The Call of the Stars
by Best Bayne OCE
Summary: A war just finished. An immensely powerful weapon from the Shadow Isles gone missing. And somehow Irelia, saved from the brink of death by Soraka's desperate handiwork, is at the centre of it all.
1. Chapter 1

Soraka staggered through the empty forest. The forest, unlike the grove she had lived in for centuries, looked dark and foreign to her in the moonlight. She staggered through the trees before collapsing in a clearing.

She was injured…..

He had done this to her. The man called Warwick, the one who had shown up begging for his dead wife to be saved, the one who she had trusted and the one she thought was a friend...

It had all been an elaborate ruse. When she used her healing powers for violence, blinding the men who had attacked him, the stars had taken her powers away, and when she healed his injuries...

"_Die bitch!_"

He had plunged the dagger into her chest but she had just managed to cast her remaining shreds of magic on him, but now her magic had gone….

And there was nowhere to go.

Her last thought before collapsing was that if she died, she might never join the stars in the sky.

* * *

**KYAAAH!**

Irelia swung her blade directly at the man standing in front of her with a shot that usually could have resulted in death had it been intended, but instead the young man simply dodged to one side and calmly parried the blow with his sword. Calmly putting his sword down he asked:

"Could you possibly have been any slower?"

She sighed. "Could you have possibly been paying any less attention?"

"I was paying attention"

"Then why did my strike nearly kill you?"

"Because it took so long to finish I thought training was over"

"Very funny"

"I know"

"And if you don't start acting like Father we're going to throw you in the dungeon for being a spy Zelos"

Zelos threw his hands up in the air in response "_Sisters_…" and walked off, leaving Irelia to walk alongside the fortifications and towards the Placidium. She had her father's control and piercing eyes and her mothers hair, while her brother Zelos had his father's grace and figure but was just….reckless. Their mother had died when they were both very young, but her father often said Zelos had her personality, presumably as a sort of compliment. Some of the nobles that were less than friendly with her brother called him stupid and arrogant, but never within his earshot. Not that he would have cared. Having reached the Placidium Irelia immediately went to find a table at the tea gardens, only to find somebody she already knew sitting at one of the tables.

"Mistress Karma! It's an honour to meet you here!"

Karma was sitting at one of the tables, dressed in her ornate black and white gown that she usually wore. One of the two fans that she always carried was in her lap, the other one was unseen, but Irelia stopped herself from asking where it was.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well Captain Irelia, although if I am correct I believe I should be honouring your presence."

"Even though you are far more important to Ionia than I am?"

"I shall earn my true ranking with time."

"So what brings you to the tea gardens of all places? Did you wish to discuss something with me?"

"I was discussing with the elders about the possibility of an alliance with Demacia. If we were to work together with them…."

"Father and the elders would never stand for that. It would be an incitement of _war_!"

"It would be an attempt at protection! If the Noxians invade…"

"The Noxians have no advantage to gain if they invade us. You know this!"

"And you think that will stop them?"

"Yes."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then may the celestials help us." Irelia stood up.

"I'm going to visit my father. Have you visited him?"

Karma stood up courteously. "Yes, although….. His condition isn't getting any better. The doctors still have no idea what it is I'm afraid."

"Thank-you _Mistress_ Karma"

"My pleasure _Captain_ Irelia"

Karma waited until Irelia had gone and then sighed. So stubborn. But she was like her father in a lot of ways. And Ionia did need people that would defend it against an invasion. She just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

Irelia had hated infirmaries for as long as she could remember. Every time she visited one could feel the fear and the suffering of the patients inside. _I need to visit at least once. For fathers sake_. Trying to remain calm, she walked up to the reception desk, dimly aware of the crowd gathering around it.

"Excuse me…..Can you tell me which room Master Lito is in?"

"I'm sorry, there aren't any visitors allowed on that floor right now. You're his….."

"Daughter. And I really have to go see him. Is it impossible?"

Irelia removed some gold pieces and placed them on the reception desk.

"Well I guess I can let you up... as long as you're quiet. There's been an incident in one of the rooms."

Irelia had already moved up the staircase but still turned around to call out a faint "Thanks."

Arriving at her Father's room Irelia was immediately relieved to find someone she already knew inside her father's room.

"Aunt Akemi!"

"Irelia! How nice to see you again!"

"…..Is father OK?"

"I'm sorry. The doctors….still have no idea what's causing the disease."

"Is he awake?"

"He's sleeping right now. Do you want me to stay a little longer?"

"I think you've probably been here long enough." Just as Akemi was about to leave Irelia remembered what she was going to ask her "Before you leave, did anything unusual happen while you were up here?"

"Some of the city guards came up here and tried to move Lito….I told them they'd have to move me first. So they left us alone."

Irelia paused, which Akemi used as her excuse to leave. Something about this didn't seem right. If there was an incident Akemi would have noticed, but she hadn't mentioned anything. So why was the entire floor being cordoned off? There was something going on here but…. Suddenly Irelia became aware of how tired she was. "Well I'm comfortable here and it's not like there's anything happening right now so I guess….a bit of a nap….couldn't hurt…..

Irelia awoke to darkness. Complete darkness surrounded her, clouding her senses. She moved forwards, slowly searching for the light switch. Then something moved directly behind her. She turned around. "Father? Is that you?" Then she saw it. A bloody bed sheet. "Oh no" She moved to grab her weapon but the assassin grabbed it and ran it straight into her stomach. "**NOT GOOD ENOUGH**." Irelia slowly dropped to the ground in pain, watching as the assassin took off their hood only to find the assassin….was her.

Then everything went white.

Irelia was floating, although where she was she wasn't exactly sure. She was in some sort of snow covered mountain range, floating about 50 metres off the ground just next to the top of a cliff face. Then the rider appeared, on one of the most beautiful horses she had ever seen. As the rider appeared she was stunned to realise that she recognised him "Zelos?" "What are you….WATCH OUT!" An arrow struck Zelos in the arm as he dived for cover. "STOP THE INFILTRATOR!" "FOR NOXUS!" The first, largest man charged Zelos, swinging his two handed axe, only for it to be blocked by Zelos' sword. The first man used his brute strength however, simply knocking the sword out of Zelos' hands . Turning around he screamed at the defenceless Zelos "NOW YOU DIE FOOL!" And just as he raised his axe to kill Zelos, Irelia saw a massive wall of snow crashing towards them….

"Zelos!"

_Thud_

"Zelos?"

Irelia woke up, startled. Quickly checking that she had her weapon and that her father was safe, she pinched herself just to be sure it wasn't a dream. It wasn't. Then she heard it. The same sound from her dream, except this time she heard it coming from another hospital room down the hall. Which was strange, because the entire floor was meant to be empty. Then she heard it again, except with muffled screams.

_That must be the same person who caused the incident before_

_The incident that the city guards decided to handle._

_The incident that meant all the poor people got moved while my influential father gets to stay behind…._

_Time to see what the government is hiding_.

Irelia walked silently down the hallway, opened the door to the room the banging came from and found herself staring directly at the thing whatever it was, that laid in the hospital bed.

And the creature stared directly back.


	2. Chapter 2

Irelia stared at the creature directly in front of her. In the candlelight Irelia could see the creature was almost human, but was covered in pale-blue skin and had long white flowing hair. Its hands and feet were bound and its mouth was gagged, and it was clearly in a lot of pain. Then the nurse ran in.

"Is everything OK oh my god you shouldn't be in here"

"What's going on here?!_" _Irelia tried to keep herself from screaming.

"S-she was unconscious before and we didn't know what she was going to do!"

Irelia tore the gag off but the creature was losing conciousness again "_H-help…..Starlight…."_

"You better not be responsible for this!" Irelia desperately tried to find the problem, and then noticed the chest wound.

"Her wound got infected and we can't find a way to treat it!"

"_Starlight…..Please…."_

"Starlight? What are you…" Then she noticed the window. "Undo the binds! We need to get her to a window!"

"Are you serious?"

"I think she knows what she's doing!"

Irelia grabbed the creature and carried her out of her room towards the window. The creature was light as a feather, and clearly emaciated. "This better work!"

As Irelia neared the window she thought there was more light coming through the window. "So what's meant to be happening…"

Then she knew there was more light coming through the window.

"Shut your eyes!"

The light kept getting brighter, getting so bright that Irelia had to shut her eyes and wondered how no-one would notice….and then it stopped.

Irelia opened her eyes.

The creature was standing there with her chest wound having completely disappeared, looking quite relieved.

"_Thank you"_

Irelia stood there in shock for a few seconds before gathering her wits "Are you a-alright?"

"_Yes. I hope I did not cause you any problems."_

"What are you?"

"_That is a question for another time when it is more convenient for both of us. Do you wish to meet tomorrow?"_

Irelia suddenly realised how tired she was.

"Y-yeah that seems like a good idea. You're not going anywhere are you?"

There was a long pause before the creature replied

"_No, I guess not."_

And with that unusual answer and an endless string of questions repeating themselves in her head, Irelia walked home, passing out as soon as she found her bed.

Once everyone had left Soraka got up from where she had been sitting. Walking over to the window she looked out at the stars and said to no-one in particular "_Thankyou_"

Irelia woke up the next day and practically ran into the hospital with excitement. She quickly made it over to the receptionist only to realise that she didn't know whether the creature had a name or not.

"Hi, I'm looking for…"

"You're looking for Soraka? The blue creature?"

"Yeah. Wait how did you…."

"She's somewhere on level 2. Just keep looking and you'll find her"

"…..Thank you"

It didn't take Irelia long to find Soraka, who was completely surrounded by patients.

"What's going on? Are you alright?"

" _I was helping these people with their injuries."_

Irelia stood there in shock for a few minutes before coming to her senses and pulling Soraka out into the hallway.

"We need to talk. What ARE you?"

"_I am a celestial being._

"A what?"

"_A star. I decided to live in Runeterra so that I could stop people suffering and heal their injuries. For 700 cycles I was happy. Then someone I knew was attacked. I fought them off but the stars abandoned me and I became mortal in the process."_

"And that's where you got your injuries?"

"_Yes."_

Irelia got the feeling Soraka was hiding something, but decided not to investigate any further. "So….are going to be returning to your home soon?"

"_No. I don't know how to return there. And even if I did…"_

Realising Soraka looked like she was going to cry Irelia decided to offer help

"Why don't you stay with me while you're here?"

Soraka stopped.

"_Thank you for the offer but I wouldn't want to trouble you.."_

"No it's fine. I have a large family." Irelia tried to look as sincere as possible and found apparently it was working. Soraka suddenly realising that she was already indebted to Irelia, decided to accept the offer. "_Thank-you. It would be an honor."_

And with that they left the hospital.

Soraka found herself staring at her surroundings in amazement as they walked through the garden. "_It's beautiful_."

"This isn't even one of the larger gardens in Ionia. One of the gardens is so large, it takes up nearly half of the city." The garden was filled with vibrant autumn colours, with enormous lines of red and blue flowers stretching towards a river. The view was so entrancing that Soraka found herself standing by the bank of the river without realising it.

"When me and my brother were children, we would sit on the roots of that tree over there on the edge of the river and pretend we were fishing."

Soraka smiled. "_Your kind have very unusual lifespans if nothing changes throughout your childhood."_

Irelia laughed "Making fun of me are you? Well was your childhood interesting?"

"_Would you regard a supernova as interesting?"_

"A what?

"…_.never mind."_

A few more minutes of walking passed during which Soraka remained silent. The walking had taken them out of the city and onto a path that led through some grassy plains. The only building that Soraka could see around the flat plains was a temple in the distance and she wondered how far they would possibly have to walk.

Then Irelia spoke again "Soraka…..we're here"

Soraka looked up. As they grew nearer to the building she thought was a temple Soraka realised that it was actually a house, although the sheer size of it meant that you could have 15-20 people living in it comfortably.

"_Is this your house?"_

"It's my families. I have a smaller place a little further round the back. Irelia grabbed a hooded cloak off a clothesline "Here put this on."

"_I don't think…."_

"I don't want you to gather attention yet. People might think you're… too unusual. And besides, it's mine."

As Soraka reluctantly finished putting the cloak on they walked through the temples centre and out into a larger outdoor area that was filled with small buildings. Irelia walked up to one of the buildings and opened the door. "This is where we're sleeping." Soraka looked at her in confusion. "I think there's another mattress in here somewhere…you want to look in a few of the cupboards?" "_Ok…..Oof!" _Irelia laughed. Soraka looked at her and sulked.

"…_.."_

"Well you found it at least!"

"…_."_

"God you look so cute when you sulk like that."

"_Cute?"_

"….Never mind. Can you wait here for 15 minutes? I need to talk to someone."

Soraka's mind was still buzzing with questions but before she could mentioned anything Irelia left.

"_Wait….._"

Well she thought, at least she had some time to herself.

" _Wait_. _Why am I trusting her? She could be manipulating me, trying to…."_

She tried to shut the thought out of her head but it kept going.

"_She's human. And humans are all manipulative. Think of Warwick, what he did to yo-"_

"_Enough." _She spoke out loud to no-one in particular.

Thinking to herself she decided "_Well I may as well have a look around."_

A quick look around indicated nothing other than basic belongings. Then something caught her eye. "_Where'd this tube come from? Must have fallen out of the cupboard from earlier."_

Opening the cupboard she looked inside then gasped. "_Blades? What are these…."_

Images flooded into her head of people coming to her, begging, pleading for her to fix their injuries. "_But why would she…." _Memories of Warwick pushing the knife into her chest surfaced and suddenly she found herself overwhelmed with panic. Voices screamed in her head "_She's an assassin she wants to kill you, you have to get out of here go gogogo"_

In a blind panic in the black of night with the cloak still covering her face, Soraka found herself running out of the temple and onto the plains.

"Zelos?" Irelia walked through the hallway down to near the front of the house. Zelos could be anywhere in the house right now, but she knew he would nearly always be in the dining room at this stage. She was just about to turn the corner when someone came around the corner from the other direction and ran headlong into her.

"What the-?" She was just about to tell them to look where they were going for once when she realised she had no idea who they were.

"You're Master Lito's daughter?"

She froze instinctively as a rising sense of dread grew inside her.

"I'm from the hospital, I'm afraid I have some bad news….."


	3. Chapter 3

Soraka lstood at the end of a long alleyway, separating two buildings that were dedicated to the foundation of balance, whatever that was. The alleyway itself was hardly large enough for one person to walk through and it reeked of some mould she had never seen before. She had wondered if she had been a little hasty fleeing from Irelia and if she should return to the house, but she knew she couldn't get back into the house without being seen, and even if she did, what if Irelia actually was what she had feared? "_Assassins, warriors….All they do is ruin other people's lives for their own benefit_."

Having eliminated that plan, Soraka knew she needed to find somewhere safe and quiet where she wouldn't be spotted. If only she knew where exactly somewhere safe was…..

She looked back the way she had came but all the buildings along these streets looked completely identical. "_It would be a lot easier to find my way around if these buildings didn't all have something to do with enlightenment. If only there was some way to get directions…."_

Then she noticed the child standing on the corner of the street. "_Perfect."_

On the opposite side of the street a woman looked up from her newspaper to see what the commotion was about. Her _accomplice_ had started yelling about something. Again. She checked her list. _Nobody to assassinate until next week. So what's the noise about?_

The man sitting next to her looked up as well.

"Shouldn't you and Shen be doing something about that?"

"Whoever started the commotion is, they're not on the list."

"_Perfect."_

Akali looked up, saw the man bolt across the street towards the commotion and facepalmed.

"_Those two….."_

Soraka walked up to the child standing on the street corner. "_Excuse me…."_

The child turned around. Then she noticed the ears. And the shurikens.

"_Never mind I'll just-"_

"YOUR SPYING ENDS HERE. NOXIAN!" Soraka ducked as the creature threw a shuriken at her. As the creature followed up and fired a lightning bolt out of its hands Soraka threw all her magic into blocking the attack, causing the lightning to vanish in front of her. "_I just want to-" _Another bolt of lightning came flying at her and she was forced to block it again.

"THIS ENDS HERE! LIGHTNING RUSH!" The creature turned itself into a ball of lightning and as it charged towards her she dived out of the way and as soon as it turned back she silenced it again. "YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE!" Just as Soraka was trying to figure out how to stall this out further another man dressed like a ninja ran around the corner directly towards her, and a smoke bomb landed directly between her and the ninjas. Silently thanking whoever had thrown it, Soraka turned and quickly sprinted into the nearest building.

Karma was silently cursing to herself. She'd convinced everyone to show up to learn about enlightenment, and the final speaker hadn't bothered to show up. She stood up and grit her teeth. At least most of the people wouldn't realise there was a missing final speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our final speaker appears to be running very late, however I would just like to conclude this session on celestial beings with-"

She suddenly found her speech interrupted when a celestial being ran into the theatre, leaving her completely speechless. The celestial being turned around, saw the enormous crowd and also stood there speechless. There was an awkward silence for several seconds, then the astonished crowd stood up and gave a thunderous applause.

Soraka stood on the theatre's stage, completely rooted to the spot in fear. There was one person on the stage with her and about 100 people in the audience and every single one of them was looking directly at her. She looked over to the person on the stage and was about to apologise profusely when the entire crowd started applauding. Had she missed something?

She hastily tried to back off the stage and out the way she came but the other person on the stage grabbed her arm. "I can help you. Follow me." The speaker made her way over to the microphone. "Our final speaker has encountered some unexpected issues, and as such this session is over." Confused, Soraka followed the woman backstage. As soon as they were backstage and away from the crowd the woman swiftly locked the door behind her. "I don't know _who_ you are or _what_ you're doing here but we need to talk."

Irelia's mind was in a blur. She still could hardly believe the news that she had heard, but she knew it had to be true. _Father…dead. After all he did for us. Not even his riches or his skill could save him in the end. _"….As is customary, his property and money will be left to the elder son Zelos. However as he specifically stated in his will, his sword will be left to his eldest daughter Irelia…."

Irelia looked up in shock. That's_ impossible. There must be a mistake. If he's giving me the swords then what he's giving to Zelos…?_

"Finally, he also specifically stated that in the case of his death but Zelos be promoted to sergeant in his stead. May his soul continue to find balance in the next life. Thankyou."

As all the guests drained out of the packed theatre Irelia glanced around. _I need to find Zelos fast. If he does something stupid... _Then she saw him, quickly moving away from the church. "Zelos, wait!" As he cleared out of the church she could see he was angry at the situation from the way he walked. Or rather angry at _her. "Zelos!" _Again there was no response, and Zelos was getting further and further away. _I don't care if Zelos wants to talk or not, I'm following him anyway. _She dropped back, hoping Zelos would think she had stopped following him, and watched as he entered the woods. Waiting until he was just out of view she followed him, using the trees as cover. Eventually they reached a clearing a short distance from the woods. Irelia watched as Zelos walked to the very edge of the clearing and then turned around.

"You can come out now, sister."

"Zelos, I'm….."

"You're not sorry."

"…_._You should have gotten his weapon."

"Well it's _yours _now isn't it? You can go out and do all the fantastic things that father did and I can just sit here doing _nothing!"_

"I can't just _magically _turn into father overnight now I have his weapon Zelos!"

"You can't? Why did he give you the weapon then? You've always been the brilliant one, the intelligent one the honourable one. You've always been the one with a future but he takes my future away from me and gives it to you!"

"Zelos….I actually am sorry."

"Just….just go."

"…"

"JUST. GO."

Irelia, knowing it would be best not to talk to Zelos when he was in a mood like this decided to head back to the Placidium alone. However the argument with Zelos still worried her.

_After all we've put up with together over the past few months and he abandons me like this…._

_Like Soraka._

She tried to get the thought out of her head but it persisted.

_Why would Soraka leave in the middle of the night after following me all that way?_

_Why do I even care about her in the first pla- _

Irelia paused so suddenly that someone crashed into her from around she saw the Fist of Shadow standing behind her acting as if nothing had happened.

"Oh hey Irelia! Fancy meeting you here!" Irelia looked at Akali for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was going on. _Akali talking to me?_ _She hasn't spoken to me in months…_

"Um….hi?"

"We haven't spoken in ages and I was just wondering if you wanted to do something relaxing together!"

Irelia ran through what she knew about Akali in her head. _Ninja, follows people around, breaks chains with her bare hands…_

"What have you got in mind?"

"We could go to the bathhouse together!"

Irelia froze. Somewhere in the distance a bird chirped. _Breaks chains with her hands…._

"I'd love to but…."

"I've already got the bookings!"

"This wouldn't have anything to do with _Shen _would it?"

As Akali had started to look like she was turning a completely different colour, Irelia changed the subject.

"Yeah sure I'll go! It should be fun!"

Akali stopped changing colour.

"Thanks…I guess."

The bathhouse was one of the most popular places to go in the Placidium, mostly because of its sheer size. It managed to contain 2 pools, an enormous spa and sauna and according to the ticket that Irelia held "private rooms". Irelia was wondering how private the rooms actually were when Akali opened a gate that said "No Entry" on it and walked straight through.

"We're here…."

Irelia looked inside the small room in front of her. There was a small lake in front of her, probably just big enough to fit 4-5 people comfortably and about 2 metres deep. "Do you want to go in first?" Akali's voice seemed to drop midway through the sentence.

Irelia moved forward hesitantly and sat on the edge of the lake with her feet and legs in the warm water. With the door to the room shut the entire room had began to fill with steam, to the point where Irelia could hardly see in front of her. She heard someone entering the water from the other side of the room "Akali?"

"Are you going to take your clothes off or _should I_?"

Irelia was trying to figure out what that sentence meant when Akali came out of the steam and kissed her. Hard. Irelia tried to break away from the kiss but Akali wrapped her arms around Irelia's head and continued kissing.

As Akali released the kiss she moved her hands down to Irelia's clothes while Irelia was gasping for air. As Irelia was released from her armor she felt butterflies form in her stomach and began to weakly try to protest. "I…..relax…"

"This _is _relaxing, you're just not used to it." Akali purred into her ear. "Just let me show you…" Akali climbed out of the water and began to climb on top of Irelia, forcing her into a lying position. As Irelia laid there helplessly Akali began kissing her small round breasts, forcing Irelia to squeal. As Irelia lay on the ground completely rigid Akali pressed Irelia's hand into her breast "C'mon Irelia why don't you start having some fun as well…."

Irelia was nearly completely unable to speak at this point but managed to gasp out a few words. "But…..Why….me?"

"Shen turned me down and all my other friends were making fools of themselves. I was about to throw the tickets in the trash when I saw you…and then I realised how curious I was."

"But…."

"You'rethinking too hard. Nobody knows we're in here, so you need to stop _controlling yourself. Don't you agree?" _Akali began purring as she finished the sentence and ran a finger down Irelia's chest down towards her legs.

As Akali said that Irelia felt all the muscles in her body loosen and as Akali's finger finished it's journey she realised how hard it was to disagree. "Yesssssssssss….."

Then everything slowly faded into warmth.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: THE ACTUAL PLOT BEGINS...next chapter.**

**In the meantime another NSFW Irelia pairing and another recurring character...but I'm not going to tell you who it is.**

**All characters are over 18.**

Irelia was on a beach. She knew it wasn't a real beach, but she felt too comfortable to move. Then the beach started fading away slowly into white. Hesitantly she opened her eyes a little trying to figure out why she felt so damp. "Where am I what's going on….SHIT!" She suddenly woke up completely as she realised she was naked. "How….what…me and Akali must have…." She looked around to find her clothes and found them piled by the door with a note on them.

_Had to leave early and didn't want to disturb you._

_I feel fantastic and I know you do as well…._

_Akali xx_

Jumping into her clothes Irelia rushed out of the bathhouse and down the street. The sun had already began to set over the horizon and despite her legs screaming at her to stop she managed to make it out of the Placidium before darkness fell. _If I don't get back soon I'm going to get skinned alive…._

Just as she made it into the plains a teenage girl ran out on the path in front of her.

"Help, help me please I think someone's_ broken into my house!_"

Irelia stared at her for a few seconds.

"Wait what? Slow down a little and just…where is this?"

"It's just over the hill in that direction _you have to help, please!"_

_There are houses along here?_

"Ok, ok I'll help. Are you alright?"

"Thankyou!" And with that the teenager hugged Irelia so violently she nearly fell over. Irelia stiffened.

"This is….. kind of awkward."

"Oh. Well… Thanks for helping anyway. I'm Sandy." Sandy blushed.

Irelia wondered why something was nagging at the back of her mind.

_Sandy? I think I've heard that from somewhere…._

"Well are you coming or aren't you? Come on then!" Sandy rapidly disappeared over the hill.

Irelia sighed. _What's the worst that can happen?_

15 minutes later she was beginning to hope she didn't find out. The walk they had taken had taken them deep into a valley and the sun had just finished setting over the horizon.

"How much further until we reach your house?"

"It's just over this hill…" Sandy whispered into Irelia's ear from so close it made Irelia lose balance.

"You can just talk quietly…."

Sandy shrank back and whimpered. "Sorry…"

As they climbed over the top of the hill Irelia stared for a few minutes. "You live in a _temple?"_

"I'm a runaway. I didn't want to tell you because I thought you would abandon me…"

"I'm not going to leave you out in the cold just because you're a runaway. Let's get you safe."

As they neared the temple Irelia looked around. "The robbers have gone….that's unusual." Lingering doubt entered her mind, only to leave as soon as she entered. The place looked like it had been ransacked, if it was a group of yetis doing the ransacking. _There's no way this can be staged. _Asthey passed a grandfather clock lying face down on the ground Irelia spoke.

"Do you need some help clearing all your stuff up or…"

"It's not my stuff…" Sandy paused for a second. "Do you think you can stay here with me tonight?"

Irelia paused. "If you want…then of course."

Sandy instantly hugged her again. "_Thankyou! _There's a bedroom down the hall…unless you want to sleep in my room." She blushed. Irelia looked at her. " I think I'll take the other room. "

As she left Sandy called out to her "My rooms just up the stairs!"

As Irelia sat on the bed she started thinking. _Something doesn't make sense…_

_But she can't be trying to hurt me. The place has been looted, the temple exists, she knows her way around…_

_There has to be a sign._

Then she saw the sign.

_Ok…._

Grabbing a nearby candle she left the castle and slowly made her way towards the sign. The shadows from the candlelight blended into each other as they moved, causing the signs writing to flicker. Irelia looked.

_Placidium 3 km_

_Lake blessed 4 km_

She moved to get a look at the last signpost then she froze.

_Whiteran 5 km_

The sign didn't mention the temple. The temple which was directly in front of it.

Why does a temple have a signpost for a lake pointing directly at it?

She took a step forward and her bare feet touched asphalt. She looked down and saw a path. A path leading in the same direction sign.

_Why is there a path underneath the temple?_

_Why is there a temple on top of the path?_

Then something slammed into her chest causing her to double over in pain.

"_What…?"_

Then everything went black.

* * *

The first thing Irelia noticed was that she felt as if she was in tremendous pain. Then she moved her head and realised she was in tremendous pain.

"I _really _need to stop blacking out all the time….."

She moved her head around slightly, letting her eyes adjust to the dim brightness.

"Is that the _sun….?"_

"Oh good you're awake. I've been waiting all night."

"Sandy…."

Sandy sighed. "It's Syndra. But _you _can call me Mistress."

Irelia tried to remember who Syndra was. _Wasn't she the insane mage with the flying building?_

Then she realised what was happening. _Shit._

Both her hands and feet were attached to the wall behind her with cuffs, except her feet were suspended several inches above the ground. The sunlight was streaming in through a window to her right and Sa…._Syndra_ looked incredibly excited.

"I don't know what you want me for but you're not getting away with this. So you can stop looking so excited."

"You're interesting! Exactly what I was looking for. It does get _incredibly_ boring around here… What was I getting to again? Oh yes that's right. You are now my slave!"

Irelia looked at Syndra, trying to figure out if she was actually insane yet.

"Right."

"Right _Mistress."_

_Oh joy._

"And how exactly do you plan to get me to follow your orders?"

"Well you can follow them or be crushed by my _unlimited power!"_

The entire temple shook.

"See? We're in the air now."

Irelia gritted her teeth.

"You're _still _not getting away with this. I'd rather die than be your slave."

"It's not THAT bad. Honestly. I am an incredibly intelligent, kind woman with the ability to do whatever I please. All you have to do is add Mistress after everything you say. And submit to me completely. Then when I take over Ionia think of the _possibilities!"_

Irelia snorted. "You're not going to take over Ionia with one slave."

"You're not going to take over Ionia with one slave _Mistress. _It really shouldn't be this hard.

And I'm not doing it with just you. I'm going to seduce some men like I was planning to. Some that can actually fight. Then when they've all fallen in love with me I can abduct someone that's _important _and make the Placidium fall to its knees!"

Suddenly it occurred to Irelia.

"You have no idea who I am."

The enormous pain from before returned as Syndra summoned a sphere less than an inch from her chest.

"Why would I need to know your name? You're my slave. And maybe that will knock some sense into you and get you to start saying _Mistress." _Syndra got up and began leaving the room. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to find myself a boyfriend. And you're lucky, I might find you a boyfriend as well."

Irelia swore.

Syndra giggled and summoned a sphere inches away from the first one before she left the room. "It's fuck you _mistress." _

Irelia shut her eyes and imagined what Syndra being set on fire would be like.

* * *

Syndra yawned. She had been waiting for at least 30 minutes and only the occasional group of people had bothered to walk past. And none of them were even remotely attractive. She thought of her slaves obeying her every command to stop her getting bored.

"_Take off your clothes." "Yesssss mistress" her slave crooned in its deep manly voice. She turned around to watch her slave…and saw her female slave instead. _

She woke up with a start. "Well that was….I'm not into girls. Am I?"She had abducted a woman, of all things. And she had tried to seduce her on the way to the castle. And she had been watching her from the window. And she had absolutely lost it when the woman tried to leave. And she had deciding that feeling her soft skin before she woke up wouldn't hurt….

"That was…research. I had to do that. Otherwise…" This was driving her nuts. She got up to find something else to do, before remembering something. _The note._

She took the note unfolded it and read it. And read it again. _Akali….isn't that a girls name?_

She smiled. Well this was interesting. Time to seduce her newest slave…..just out of curiosity. Of course.

Irelia was quietly wondering if her day could get any worse when Syndra walked in again surrounded by 5 of her spheres. The manacles loosened and Irelia fell to the ground.

"Come with me."

Irelia couldn't be bothered arguing but didn't feel like responding, so she followed Syndra in complete silence. Eventually they made their way inside a library, where light was streaming in through the stained glass windows.

"What do you want." Irelia said while avoiding eye contact with Syndra.

"I've decided to let you go."

Irelia looked at her in shock while trying to figure out if she was joking or not.

"On one condition."

"Forget about it."

"I want you to take my virginity away."

Irelia froze, as if she couldn't quite believe what she just heard.

And with that Syndra took her shirt off

"Well?"

And Irelia started sprinting in the opposite direction.

* * *

Irelia knew she was running away from Syndra. That was for certain. Why she was running away? She had absolutely no idea. Syndra had taken off her shirt, told her to take her virginity away, and Irelia had looked at her and….. She wanted to do it. She knew there was a part of her mind that wanted to do it so badly...

But she was running.

"Nervous are we?"

Suddenly Syndra appeared and threw an orb directly in front of Irelia knocking over a bookshelf and blocking her escape. Irelia swerved and Syndra laughed.

"You know it's easier just to give in…."

"Jailbait!"

"You saw my body and you liked it!" Syndra started massaging her breasts, which only inspired Irelia to run faster. As Syndra blocked off another escape route Irelia ran through the only open door, only to crash directly into someone.

"Soraka? What are you…?"

"_Finding you!"_

"Wha…How?"

"_I followed the noise!"_

"That's not what….Never mind, just run!"

Bolting down the staircase Soraka ran into a side room. As Irelia wondered how on earth Soraka found her, Karma ran in through another door.

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Syndra!?"

Irelia suddenly remembered Syndra was topless.

"I'd rather not talk about it!"

As Karma stared at her the doors they just ran through disintegrated. Syndra was on the other side of the doors, somehow wearing the same corset from earlier. Less relieving was the bookshelf hovering behind her.

"_**How dare you! I will crush you for interrupting!"**_

As she threw the bookshelf at them Soraka silenced her, causing the bookcase to fall short of its destination and land directly in front of them. As it missed, Karma threw a bolt of magic at Syndra which exploded as it struck her.

Irelia turned. "So what's the plan?"

"_That was the plan."_

Syndra reappeared through the haze, with about 5 spheres surrounding her. At the same time the castle started slowly moving upwards. Then Irelia noticed something.

"I know a way out."

"_What?"_

"There's a door down the corridor behind us and out the first door to the left. I've been down here before."

Karma looked at them. "This might be a stupid question but do you think you can run?"

"We're not going to be able to outrun her."

"That wasn't the question. On the count of three…"

As Syndra released her power directly at Karma, Karma responded with an enormous shield and roared "RUN!" Then everything happened in slow motion.

The magic hit Karma, tore through her shield and knocked her backwards.

Soraka grabbed her and pushed her towards the exit. Syndra summoned a final sphere directly in front of Irelia, but Irelia ran _through_ the forming sphere and leapt out the doorway.

As she turned around, she watched as Karma and Soraka leapt out the castle, which was now floating several feet above where it had landed.

Irelia was relieved to notice Syndra had stopped following them.

Then Karma spoke "Irelia, do you want to talk about what happened in there?"

"No."

"_Duck!"_

As Irelia and Karma threw themselves on the ground a sphere flew over Karma and embedded itself in a nearby hill.

Karma got up.

"Well that was close."

* * *

As Syndra watched Irelia and Karma leave she felt a dull rage burning inside her.

"They took away _my _slave. My _first _slave. I'll show them all…eventually."

Catching another slave would be pointless. Especially now she had developed an attachment to the first one. For now she had another plan. Sending the castle back into the sky, she then assembled the gear she needed with her magic. It wasn't hard. She hardly needed anything. All she needed was her magic, a change of clothes, a hair tie…..and her ability to act.


	5. The Plot Thickens

Irelia felt appalling. Her arms ached, her head ached and her legs felt like they were on fire.

Soraka looked at her curiously._ "Are you alright?"_

"That's the 4th time you've asked me that….."

_"Does that mean no?"_

"It means yes."

_"Are you sure? I am a healer…"_

"We're only going to be walking for another 5 minutes, I'm pretty sure I can make the distance. And you can stop telling me you're a healer."

_"Humans are such curious creatures…"_

As they eventually made their way towards her home it occurred to Irelia she still had absolutely no idea how she was going to explain what had happened.

"_Irelia…_"

Soraka grabbed her hand and Irelia recoiled as something shot through her arm.

"What was that?"

_"I healed you. Do you feel any better?"_

"We're standing outside my house!"

_"And?"_

"…..Thankyou. But can you only heal me….when I ask for it?"

_"Ok….Are we still friends?"_

"Yes! I just….can you not heal me against my will?"

_"…."_

Irelia knew that if they stood outside for any longer, she would definitely be seen, and she didn't feel like answering questions."

"I'm going to get someone. Just….wait here."

Re-entering the house for the first time in 24 hours, she looked around. "Zelos! Hello?"

The silence that followed was deafening. _Something's wrong_. Then she realised Zelos' stuff was missing.

"Zelos?!"

She nearly sprinted up to Zelos' room. "Zelos are you alri…."

There was a note neatly scribbled and attached to his door.

_Gone to Demacian scout fleet at Navori to prove myself._

_Catching boat at 5:30 Sunday_

_Sorry_

_Zelos_

She reread the letter desperately hoping it wasn't true. "I never got the chance….to make him understand…" Then she looked up and saw the time. 4:15. _He can't have left more than 15 minutes ago…._

_But that means I still have time_.

She sprinted around to the stables at the back of the house. The largest horse was missing. But the fastest one was there. She jumped onto it without even thinking and they galloped off.

_I don't know how, but somehow, I am going to stop Zelos before he does something he's going to regret._

Soraka looked up at the sound of hooves, only to see Irelia ride past.

"GoingtoNavorista….."

After looking around in shock she realised she was alone.

_That was…..unexpected._

She thought about her choices.

_"I either stay here… Or I go back to the Placidium."_

_Well here is safe…._

Then she remembered something that Karma had mentioned.

_But the Placidium has a library._

Making up her mind she walked back towards the Placidium. She knew her way around now. And she would only be gone a couple of hours.

\- -'- - - - -

The wind whipped through Irelia's hair as the horse bolted down the path. She had covered so much distance so fast she knew she was only 15 minutes away, but the horse looked like it was on its last legs. _Come on…just a few more minutes and then we can stop. Just a few more minutes…._ As she turned the corner to complete the final stretch of the path she slowed. The path was blocked by a group of people, and behind them, a barricade.

I don't believe this. 15 minutes away from Navori and I'm being fucking robbed?

She hesitantly got off her horse.

"I don't want any trouble. Just let me pass."

**"You will not pass."**

She looked at the group in front of her. A two handed swordsman, a swordsman, two guys with no weapons, and an archer. She drew her weapon.

"I don't think I heard what you said. You want to reconsider?"

**"Turn around Irelia ****_Will_****_of the Blades_****, for your destiny is still to come and you shall not pass!"**

Outnumbered by Noxian mercenaries. And one of them is a barbarian. Just great.

"I don't know where you got that title from, but if you were Ionian you would be helping me. And since you must be Noxian….I control my own fate."

As Irelia moved towards her horse the archer fired an arrow she hadn't even noticed had been drawn. It shot over her and her horse and embedded itself in a nearby tree but cut her off from her horse. She drew her weapon and the barbarian sneered at her.

**"You think you can fight us? It's time for us to show you how outmatched you are. Drop your weapons!" **

She stared as he lazily threw his weapon aside, and it embedded itself in a nearby tree. Then one of the unarmed men stepped forwards.

_Oh joy. A martial artist_. She noticed the covering over his eyes. _And he's blind too. _

She placed her weapon down and stepped forwards._ Well it's not as if I have a choice…_

As she stepped forwards she immediately darted towards the blind man, hoping to throw him off guard, only to find her hand striking thin air. _What_? As he went for a strike she turned around and tried to counter, only to find that once again he had avoided it.

_He's not even anticipating my moves. _

Moving to the edge of the path she stared at him as he watched her move. He has to make a move sooner or later it's not as if….

**_"This ends here!"_**

Suddenly the blind man slammed his fist into the ground releasing a shock wave that caused her to stumble. As she recovered from the shock wave he immediately appeared directly in front of her and with one armada bed her by the throat and lifted her straight into the air.

**_"One measures strength by how much pain one can inflict. And I can inflict a lot of pain."_**

As he said this, Irelia gasped and had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming. She felt like her entire body had been set on fire.

_I am not going…to let him have the satisfaction…of seeing me scream…_

As she wondered how long she could keep this up at the hands of this psychopath everything happened in slow motion. The pain stopped but she was being thrown further away from the ground…and then she felt a foot slam into her chest. More pain erupted from her chest where the foot had struck it followed by more pain when she hit the ground. As she lay there in the oncoming darkness she wondered what on earth she had done.

**_"You're finished with the Will of the Blades. She will survive?"_**

**_"Yes. Her inner strength is remarkable."_**

**_"And she is out of their sight?"_**

**_"Of course. You were not watching?"_**

**_"Why would I watch? That was hardly what one would call a battle, or interesting. "_**

**_"So the mission is finished?"_**

**_"Our labour is finished. But the fruits are yet to come."_**

Irelia lay on the ground watching the night sky creep in. She knew that there was absolutely no chance that she would finish making it to Navori. _Zelos….. I swear on my fathers weapon that somehow I will repay you for this failure_. She tried to get up only to be hit by a wave of intense pain. "Aaah!" She bit her tongue again to stop herself from screaming.

Ok. She lay on the ground for a few seconds as she tried to think. _Have to keep moving. Legs…fine. Arms….fine. Ribs….shit_. Using a nearby ledge she propelled herself upwards and just barely managed to stay balanced through the pain. _I have to get out of here. And I'm not going to make it back the way I came….. _

Desperately, she struggled onwards. The temperature had dropped to freezing and she could feel the pain in her chest with every step. She had no idea how far away Navori was, but she knew she had to be getting close. _Just a few more minutes…_

"And then I threw the other one of my axes right, and it killed him, obviously, but when I checked it…."

She froze. She had no idea who was talking but they had a Noxian accent, and were somewhere on the path ahead. Her instincts kicked in and she fled off the path into the undergrowth. The pain that burst through her chest was nearly completely ignored.

_Noxians? Here?_

It suddenly occurred to her that the fight with the strange man from earlier might have been more than a coincidence.

_But why would they try to stall me unless….._

_Fuck._

"So I'd killed two people by landing two axes in exactly the same spot!"

She moved through the forest as silently as she could manage, thankful for the fact that the talking was drowning out the noise of her breathing. The group was Noxians, and every single one of them was armed to the teeth.

"Light the torches!"

She froze like a rabbit caught like a predator, only for another Noxian soldier to speak up.

"I don't think that's a good idea…."

"I'm Darius's brother, you'll do what I say!"

The biggest man out of the entire group stood up and brandished his axe.

"The next person who lights a torch gets their head removed from their body."

"Weren't't you sleeping?"

"I wasn't sleeping **_I was pretending to be dead_**."

"But there's something stuck in my teeth!"

Irelia moved away from the group even faster than she'd been moving before.

_I have to warn the guards. If the Noxians are on this side of Navori…._

As she saw the guard outpost she ran towards it.

"There are Noxians….You have to get everyone out of here, it's a trap!"

The guard looked at her as if she was kidding. Grabbing her weapon she pointed it at him, and he suddenly realised how serious she was and sounded the alarm.

Then looked at the ocean and squinted. "What the…."

Suddenly the guard fell over dead with an axe embedded in his back. A Noxian walked up, pulled the axe out his back and stared at Irelia.

"Hey there…..Whatcha doin' tonight?"

Irelia stared at him. It was the same talkative Noxian she had seen earlier.

"All the ladies wanna join the league of DRAVENNNNNNNN….."

"You're a _monster_."

Then everything went to hell.

An explosion rang out, bathing the entire port in flame. As the Noxian readied one of his weapons a man leapt out of nowhere and swung his sword at the Noxian, and as the Noxian dodged, kicked him in the face.

"Move!"

Another explosion rang out as Noxian troops began storming the port.

Irelia wasn't exactly sure where she was meant to move to, so she stood her ground.

"We have to protect the civilians!"

As another cannonball crashed into a building next to her a large group of Noxian soldiers flooded in through the way she'd just came. A group of Noxian battleships began closing in on the dock, attempting to cut off the only other way out of the city.

"They're already escaping! Get to the side gate and I'll hold the Noxians off!"

"That's suicide!"

"Just go!"

At this point most of the area was on the verge of collapsing or on fire. Irelia knew that if she stayed, she would die, and the civilians would be helpless. And if she left…an innocent man would die to the Noxians.

Realising there was only one decision, she gritted her teeth and ran towards the side gate.


	6. Some very special treatment (NSFW)

**_A/N: Sorry this chapter took waaaay longer than it should have. I had trouble writing the start and the end...I got excited._**

**_Peace._**

Yasuo wondered how one of the most boring days he'd ever suffered through had ended with half the town being set on fire and a Noxian army trying to kill him. _This is much better. I don't know what I'm going to do, but this is much more exciting._

A building behind him exploded into flames, sending soot and bits of wood everywhere. As the flames intensified, the area around him was lit up in a dim glow, and a group of about 15 Noxians turned in his direction. _Ok. Now I know exactly what I'm going_ to_ do._

Sprinting into a tower at full speed, he turned and waited for them to follow._ 3….2….1… _

Then 4 men charged into the building tower behind him

"There he is!"

_Steel tempest._

Two of the men immediately began to regret standing directly behind him, as they were thrown into the air.

_Last Breath_.

Yasuo was the only one that landed alive.

The third and fourth men attempted to swing their swords, only to find Yasuo was faster.

_Done._

He looked around, only to find a 5th Noxian staring at him and holding a runic weapon that looked to be nearly 5 feet long.

_Or not._

"FOR NOXUS!"

_A woman?_

The Noxian threw herself towards him at an enormous speed, and he quickly darted in the other direction. Turning around he quickly slashed in her direction, only for her to block the damage and try to slash his legs.

_She's too agile for either of us to have an advantage. _

As he waited for the Noxian to make another move, she simply slammed her sword into the ground, releasing a shock wave and knocking him over.

_What the-?_

Knocking his sword out of his grasp, the woman moved forwards to finish him.

"Are we done here?"

"Yes, commander Darius. Should we continue the offensive?"

You continue the offensive. I'm waiting for someone."

"Yes sir."

Darius knew he should probably be leading the offensive, but he wanted to talk to Riven before he left about the invasion. Riven was the only friend he had left in the military, as he refused to talk to people more cowardly than himself and her skill was enough to impress even him. Occasionally. And Riven's unit had charged into the tower after someone.

"Permission to open fire on the tower Commander Darius?"

"Denied."

_ Riven can easily take any Ionian by herself_.

Then there was a large _whoomph_ and the tower exploded.

Yasuo had decided if he was going to die he was going to die honourably with his eyes open and as close to his sword as he could possibly be. Then there was an explosion. The tower shook. The Noxian paused. And in a split second he grabbed his sword and charged.

_Steel tempest._

A tornado flew out from the blade of his sword, knocking the Noxian over and tearing her weapon from her grip, sending it flying to the other side of the room. As Yasuo charged forward he paused.

_I could kill her. But to what end? _The town below was swarming with Noxians and Yasuo knew that killing this woman wouldn't aid his escape_._

He looked behind him at the gaping hole created in the tower by the explosion.

_Well this could be fun_.

Then he leapt.

Karma yawned. _Monday. Hooray. I have to go and work with a bunch of nutcases again. Where'd I put my coffee?_

Walking out the front to get the milk she was mildly surprised to see a shuriken go flying past her.

_"Spy!"_

"What….What are you doing Kennen?"

_"Looking for spies!"_

"And why are you doing that?"

_"Because we've been invaded!_

"…."

"Have you been sleeping under a rock?"

"I've been asleep."

_"Well they reached Navori 8 hours ago!"_

_Aaaand it's 7:00 in the morning_. Then she realised. Navori. That's near...

"I really have to go."

She started sprinting off down the street.

_"Go where?"_ Kennen looked at her as she nearly flew past down the street.

"HOME!" She yelled back, not really caring if Kennen heard or not.

_If I don't get to my village soon something really bad is going to happen..._

* * *

Irelia wasn't sure what was worse out of having her ribs broken, or getting tied to the hospital bed. A nurse walked past her room and she called out, trying to see if she could at least get her arms free. _It's worth a shot._

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

"I'm tied to the hospital bed."

"It's for your own safety."

"Who gave you that idea?"

"Some of the other nurses insisted."

_Did they now..._

"Can I speak to Soraka please?"

"She's busy."

"Tell me if she's free then."

"My pleasure." And with that the nurse left leaving Irelia to stare at the ceiling again.

Just as Irelia had counted 300 sheep, the nurse came back in.

"You have another visitor."

A man walked in that Irelia could not remember for the life of her.

"General Lito, it is a pleasure to meet you."

_Oh shiiiit._

"It is a pleasure to meet you too Master…."

"Yi. I have come to offer you the assistance of the Wuju in the oncoming battles."

"Thankyou. I accept your offer."

As she finished talking he stared at her.

_Was that too soon? I hope that wasn't too soon_. She tried to think of something useful to say, then thought of something.

"They will be useful in the defence of The Placidium."

She watched as he stopped staring at her and stared at the ceiling instead. Then he spoke.

"You are injured?"

"It wasn't in the invasion. Some monk dropkicked me into a tree."

"Some kick." He got up to leave and Irelia remembered a favour she had to ask.

"Can you contact some people for me?"

Akali was cursing to herself. _I bet everyone else gets paid for their assassinations. And what do I get? Balance. And a dead end job with shitty hours_.

Then someone ran past her in a blur. Then ran past her back the other way. Then stopped in front of her.

"Akali?"

"Yes?"

"General Lito wants to speak with you."

"Does she now?"

Realising she was blushing slightly she looked up, but Yi had already run off.

* * *

Irelia was nearly completely worn out, despite still being tied to the hospital bed.

She had tried to find the troops needed to fight the Noxians, only to find that convincing the monks to fight was completely impossible, and the Kinkou Order hadn't even bothered to respond. So she'd only found about 30 people.

_At least I got a few good swordsmen to join up._

She stared out the window of her room for what seemed like forever and tried to go to sleep but the Kinkou not bothering to show up was irritating her. She hadn't just needed to talk to them about the war. There was something else she had noticed…

Then Akali walked in wearing a nurse outfit that would make men speechless, and shut the door behind her.

Irelia looked at her, completely speechless. _What on Earth?_

"You called?"

_GODAMN IT. Yi manages to find the only one I don't want to see. Well, actually..._

Telling the truth occurred to Irelia but then she had a better idea. Still speechless, she nodded.

"So you _do_ miss me _don't_ you…."

Akali said this as she walked over to the window and pulled the curtains across.

Irelia nodded again, wondering what the true answer was.

"But are you missing my _voice_?"

She took off her dress, walked over to Irelia, and started stroking her face.

"Or are you missing my _body_?"

"_The…the_ second one."

Akali climbed on top of Irelia. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Then she kissed her. Seizing the opportunity, Irelia kissed back as hard as she possibly could and felt tingles run down her spine. Releasing the kiss Akali moved downwards, nearly tearing Irelia's gown off in a frenzy.

"Aren't you going to untie me?"

"Why would I do something like that?" Akali began moving a finger down between Irelia's legs.

"Beca-_ooohhh_…"

The same sensation from last time swept through her as Akali placed her head between her legs. As the feeling intensified Akali removed her head and smiled.

"You wanted to talk about something?"

"U-untie me!"

"You look too cute to refuse…."

As Irelia felt the ropes around her being untied she grabbed Akali and pulled her in closer and held her there with another kiss. As they kissed her hands began to rapidly explore Akali's naked body, slowly moving upwards over her chest and then downwards...

"You're getting braver, aren't you?"

As Irelia blushed at the compliment Akali moved her hand back in between Irelia's legs and as the feeling intensified pushed Irelia's face into her body.

"_Sssshhhhh"_

"Aaaaah-_mmmmmph_" Irelia sighed as she felt the muscles in her body loosen.

Akali removed her hand but left her chest on top of Irelia's face.

_She seems to be enjoying herself..._

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" She teased.

In response Irelia simply ran her tongue as far as she could across Akali's skin.

"_Mmmm_…keep going.."

As Akali waited she continued to run her hands down Irelia's legs. Eventually Irelia found the ability to pull away and Akali repeated the question.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Irelia yawned. "I'm too tired to talk about it right now. Can I talk to you tomorrow?"

As she smiled at her Akali's heart did a double take.

"Ok….sure. But you better tell me or…."

"Or what?

Akali's heart did another double take.

"Umm… I'll think about that later. OK?"

As Irelia smiled at her, she hurriedly left the room.

As she left the hospital he had to wonder quietly to herself.

_Gods….What have I created?_


	7. Do Stars Dream?

**A/N: Yes. Yes they do (SPOILERS).**

**Sorry for taking ages with this chapter, which actually happens before directly before the previous one starts.**

* * *

Soraka walked silently through the forest, towards the ancient grove that she called her home.

She had become accustomed to the sounds that came from within the forest, the rustling of leaves underfoot, the pass of birds chirping overhead…..

She stopped. There was something else, something making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She looked around the forest, only to find nothing unusual nearby.

_So what's making that noise?_

Focusing intently as she walked, she was surprised when she heard the noise again, even closer to her than before. The voice seemed unusual, almost inhuman and she slowly began to wonder what it was.

_Is that….someone laughing?_

"_**Hwahahahaha…"**_

Soraka froze. There was something familiar about the voice, something she couldn't quite place. But it was something she was going to find out.

_I can do this._

Trying to calm herself, she started walking toward the source of the noise. The other noises from the forest had grown quieter and quieter as she approached, which was a little strange. The forest getting darker and more ominous however…..

"_Hello?"_

Something was very wrong.

"_Is anyone there?"_

_The laughter definitely came from over here…._

The undergrowth rustled behind her and she had to stop herself from running.

_There's someone behind me._

"_Why are you hiding?"_

She tried to ask the question as firmly as possible, only for it to come out as a series of response. The forest had become completely still, and all Soraka could hear was her measured breathing. Assuming this meant that the entire thing was part of her imagination, Soraka turned around.

A pair of red wolverine eyes stared back.

A scream rose in her throat.

"_**Die bitch!"**_

Then she ran.

She stumbled blindly through the increasingly dense forest, not caring where she was going or what she was going to do because the only things that mattered were not slowing down and not looking behind her _no matter what. _

She could sense Warwick getting closer as his footsteps got louder and louder and his breath got heavier and heavier on the back of her neck. Just as she was thinking about using her magic to slow him down, stop him, _anything, _she saw a pathway out of the forest. _A road!_. Desperately sprinting towards it, she could see the road in front of her and somebody walking in the distance.

_Is that….Irelia? "Irelia!" _She yelled at the top of her voice only to find no response.

_How did she not hear me? "IRELIA!"_

As she finally made to Irelia she heard Warwick laugh, a deep sinister laugh from somewhere well behind her.

"_**Hwahahahaha…"**_

Irelia turned around, her eyes blank, and her face completely expressionless. Then everything in front of Soraka dissolved and she started falling into darkness.

* * *

The first thing Soraka noticed was that the surface under her hands was a little unusual. Slowly getting onto her feet and opening her eyes, she saw nothing but dirt. _Where…..where am I?_ Looking around trying to get an idea of her surroundings, she found nothing she could place. _Nothing standing anyway_. The area was completely lifeless and surrounded by a thick fog, with a mess of rubble and dirt and a few half built structures sticking out of the ground. The terrain felt familiar but looked unusual enough so that she just couldn't place exactly where she'd seen it before. Determined to find out what was going on, she picked a direction on the road and started walking.

After a few minutes she wished she hadn't. The surroundings were beginning to look more and more like a war zone, and there were…_.bodies. _Bodies, male and female of all sizes, some that were damaged so badly they were nearly completely unrecognisable. As she walked past a horribly mutilated body she had to resist the urge to throw up. _Just keep moving….._

As she slowly moved forward she saw a figure through the fog and paused nervously, waiting to see what would happen. "_Hello?"_

As she called out the figure turned and slowly began to move towards her. As the figure moved towards her she prepared herself to run, only for Irelia to make her way through the fog. "_Irelia!" _Relief surged through her mind, only to be replaced with panic as Irelia collapsed into a heap in front of her. Sprinting forwards, she grabbed Irelia in her arms and struggled to hold her upright

"_Are you alright?"_

Irelia tried to nod, but her face was ashen and she could hardly move her head. As Soraka looked down she saw droplets of blood staining Irelia's armour

"_I'm going to get you to safety, ok?"_

As she said this she started trying to drag Irelia to safety, only to find her body felt like lead in her arms.

As she slowly pulled Irelia along, Irelia gained the energy to begin talking.

"Where were you….when they attacked?

Soraka stared at her in shock, hardly able to speak.

"Why…..didn't you... help…me?"

_I….I don't know what she's talking about._

"_I'm…I'm going to see if I can heal your injuries ok? Just…save your energy."_

"Where….were…you…"

As Soraka tried to channel the magic she felt something slip, no,_ get pulled_ away from her.

_No….. My magic…It can't be the stars trying to stop me. It can't be._

"_Come on Irelia…. Stay awake…I'm just channeling the magic now alright?"_

Desperately she began to put more energy behind her magic, not willing to let it get stopped, not caring about the danger she was putting herself in, just refusing to let Irelia go.

"_Just this once….can't you let me save my friend…"_

As she prepared to channel the magic one last time she felt it get pulled away from her, but continued anyway.

"_Irelia….I probably won't make it through this…I'm sorry."_

Irelia was completely silent, her face a deathly white.

In an explosion of light, Soraka released the healing magic within her. "_IRELIA!"_

Then everything faded to orange.

_Thud._

_To orange?_

As Soraka tried to figure out the reason for the orange light, she also found herself slowly opening her eyes. Blinking a couple of times to adjust to the dim light, she paused as realisation dawned on her.

_Was that….a dream? _Hurriedly, she looked around at her surroundings.

A wooden table, lit solely by a dim candle was in front of her, and a book laid on the floor nearby. Aside from a few dim candles the room was dark, and there was a dim noise from outside. Rising, Soraka slowly began retracing her steps. _Irelia left….so I went to a library...which is where I am now. I must have fallen asleep for a few hours. _She sighed gratefully, suddenly full of relief. _Irelia's alive. She has no idea where I am….but she's alive. _Grabbing the candle she left the library as quickly as possible and began running down the street to Irelia's house. _Hopefully I can find her before too long, otherwise….I don't want to think about it. _Exiting the library with the candle, she stopped briefly in confusion as someone exited the building across from her in the same way. Looking down the street she paused. _Actually, there are a lot of people with candles. What are they…?_ Quietly following the others, towards the centre of the city, she wondered what was going on. Then she saw the enormous group of over 100 exhausted and clearly terrified people they were heading towards. And just off to one side…._Ohmygod._

Ireliawas crouched over in front of the mass of people, and was clearly in an enormous amount of pain. Sprinting over, Soraka quickly helped Irelia up without even waiting for a response.

"_Irelia! A-are you alright?"_

"I-I'm fine…" Irelia staggered and nearly fell over, only for Soraka to catch her.

"_Something's wrong._ _I'm going to get you to safety…just stay there."_

Irelia started protesting weakly, only to burst into a coughing fit. "I-I can walk…"

"_STAY. there. I'm going to find help."_

Soraka looked around trying to find someone to ask, only for a brown-haired woman to wall over and pick Irelia up as if she was only an infant.

Soraka stared at her, in a combination of wonder and shock_."What are you….."_

"You needed help?"

"…"

"Well come on then!"

Soraka looked at her for a few seconds in confusion, and then meekly decided to follow.

_She must know Irelia somehow. Well she seems to know what she's doing….._

"_You're one of Irelia's friends?"_

"I guess you could say that. Are you one of her friends?

"_She's my friend!"_

"..."

"…"

Soraka paused, startled at her own reaction to the comment.

Irelia mumbled something softly under her breath and the woman began to softly speak back to her.

"Sshhhhh….everything's alright Irelia, you need just need a bit of rest. We're at the hospital now."

"Akali…."

"Shhhhh…"

"_Is that your name?"_

"…..Yes. Yours?"

"_Soraka."_

A few more minutes passed, in which there was complete silence between the three of them. Then as they reached the hospital Akali spoke up.

"We're here...I'm going to get Irelia inside."

"_I'm coming too."_

"…"

As Soraka felt Akali's gaze on her she decided to make her feelings clear.

"_I'm. Coming. Too."_

Wordlessly they entered the hospital. The sight of Soraka following a woman holding another woman in her arms clearly astonished the nurses.

"She's been involved in an accident. Is there a room?"

"I'm not sure…"

"She's high priority with broken ribs and a fever. Make space."

Wordlessly the nurse walked off, only to come back a few seconds later.

"There's a free bed, third room on the right."

"_Thankyou."_

As they entered the room, Akali gently placed the nearly sleeping Irelia down on the bed and started running her hands through her hair. Irelia looked exhausted and feverish,, but luckily fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed.

"You're safe now…go to sleep."

As Soraka sat down, she realised she had to ask Akali something, but had no idea how to get her attention. As Akali left Irelia's side, she waved to get Akali's attention.

"_Can I talk to you for a minute?"_

"About what?"

"_It's just…I'm a healer, but I'm worried if I heal Irelia…"_

"...She'll get into danger again."

"_Am I…Am I doing the right thing?"_

"She's going to be fine. And I don't know how to explain it but yes. You are doing the right thing."

"_Thankyou."_

Akali yawned. _"_Now if you'll excuse me….I think I need to get some more rest."

And as quickly as she had arrived to help….she was gone, leaving Soraka to reflect on her own thoughts in the candlelit darkness.

_Irelia….you're my only friend. The only person that's valued me as more than just some…..some object. And for that….I am not going to lose you. _And as Soraka ran through her thoughts, somehow, _somehow_ her hand managed to find Irelia's.

"_Irelia….I will do anything in my power to save you. Because no matter what happens, I am never going to lose you. Never."_

And as the nightmares from only hours ago flashed through her mind, she realised something.

"_Never again."_


	8. Never to be forgotten

**A/N: Sorry this came out rather later than usual, I had other stuff to write and this is a looong chapter (at least by my standards)**

**There are more important notes at the end of this chapter, I just felt like saying hello. **

Shifting nervously, Akali stared out at the ocean in front of her. The forests of Ionia, where she had just completed her latest mission, lay behind her and she wondered if she could have afforded a few more days in the city just to make sure there weren't any attempts to gather the information she had _disposed _of. Clearing her thoughts, she stood up and continued to look out over the ocean for any activity. _I'm not thinking straight. Kennen stayed behind instead of me because he would swim these isles if something happened on the mainland and I wouldn't._

An image of Irelia appeared in her mind.

_Wouldn't I?_

Turning around to make sure the boat hadn't arrived yet, she swore under her breath. "_Fucking_ Irelia…..put me in this shitty situation. I was on top of my feelings for you, and then you went and nearly got yourself killed!"

_If I hadn't done something she wouldn't have survived, and then…._

_And then what? Disappointment? I did my job. I killed those Noxian spies. Nobody would be disappointed. _

_Except me. _

Picking a rock up and throwing it in one motion, she threw it as far as she could. It flew several feet, directly into the Kinkou strait.

_And then she asks me to do one thing, just ONE thing. Find the people that attacked her. _

_The people that have completely disappeared, and also don't even exist!_

_The barbarian and the viking. Gone. _

_The blind martial artist who nearly killed Irelia and nobody in Ionia has EVER heard of. _

_The archer who no one knows despite him having purple skin and not even being human. _

_And…_

_And the other one._

Noticing the sail appear in her view, she instantly snapped out of her trance and walked down towards the small boat as it moored by the dock. On the boat, Shen looked in her direction with indifference, which was expected. _He's practicing. Maybe I should test him a little…_

"Shen! How are you? Wait, let me guess..." She paused mockingly. It was an old joke, but a good one, at least in her opinion.

In response, Shen smiled at her., nearly causing Akali to fall off the boat in shock.

Sheepishly she smiled back. "…That was fake wasn't it."

"That might get you to stop asking me that dumb question."

"Could also get you disqualified."

"We're on a boat in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I think I can have fun occasionally."

As Shen stopped talking, Akali found herself fidgeting nervously again. Dropping the oars, Shen looked at her and Akali could tell he was clearly concerned.

"Something's wrong?"

"Have you….ever heard of other types of ninja?"

"They don't exist, at least as far as I know. Why?"

"A very high ranked Ionian I know was attacked by assassins. One of them looks like a ninja."

"And they can't be Noxian?"

"Another two were barbarians."

Shen frowned. "That seems…..incredibly unlikely. You just…know this Ionian?"

"It's complicated." Akali shifted again at she noticed Shen glaring at her. .

"So what are you going to do?"

"…..Ask someone…Preferably not my mother..."

"…You're going to have to ask my father."

As the temple island appeared on the edge of the horizon, Akali felt as if a chasm had just appeared where her stomach should have been.

_Why didn't I just stay in Ionia when I had the chance…_

* * *

Storming between the giant stone columns that made up the main quarters of her house, Irelia threw herself down onto the nearest chair. _This is ridiculous. Fucking ridiculous. My ribs improve to the point where I can go home….and then they keep me locked up there instead. _

Resisting the urge to throw something, she threw out a kick which slammed into the nearest pillar and sent a bolt of pain into her ribs.

"Shit!"

"_Are you alright?"_

Irelia turned around to face Soraka. "None of your business."

"_I just thought I heard something….is everything OK?"_

"Well thanks to you I'm locked up in my own house…"

"_What did I do?"_

Irelia glared at her. "You're a terrible liar. You…Akali….My family….The council…She motioned to the guards outside her home. You're all working against me."

Just then someone knocked on the door.

"What is it?"

The door promptly flew open revealing one of the biggest men she had ever seen, standing well over 6 feet tall and dressed entirely in animal fur.

"General."

Irelia tried her best to ignore Soraka staring in shock at the man.

"….Good evening, Spirit Walker."

"I have come to repay my debt to Ionia."

"Did you find the people I requested?"

"Only one. He fit the description you gave…but he is…. also one of my closest friends. He comes to plead his innocence."

Staring at the Spirit Walker for a few minutes, Irelia tried to come to terms with what he just said. Pleading innocence was allowed…but also completely insane.

"Plead his….innocence? Send….send him in then."

"Lee!"

The man walked in and kneeled and Irelia stared in shock..

"General."

This was the monk that attacked her alright, with a few major differences. Instead of baldness, long black hair covered his head.

And the red cloth she had seen covering his face….

"You're…._not_ blind?" Of all the things she thought she would find, a man with sight was the least likely. And considering the way he'd fought against her, also completely impossible.

The two men stared at her as if they had absolutely no idea what she had just said.

"Why….would I be blind?"

"Because the man that attacked me resembles you exactly…. and yet also happened to be blind."

There was an awkward silence that seemed to last forever. Then the Spirit Walker spoke.

"**Sorcery**."

Seeing no other option Irelia had to agree. "You…can both go."

As the two left the complete silence resumed. Looking around, Irelia was filled with confusion and also dread.

_If this is over as easily as I think it's over, why did Lee look like he was hiding something? And even if he wasn't…then why did Soraka?_

* * *

Akali slowly managed to put herself into a sitting position. Upon arriving at the temple she had slowly managed to bring herself to considering asking Shen's father about the incident, only to immediately receive a summons about the war for that night. And since that was just about the only thing that could have made her day any worse….she'd gone straight to the spa instead. Making growling noises to anyone who wondered if she had something better to do. _Wonder how long I have to lie here before the Kinkou drag me away…_

Almost directly after, someone unexpected walked in.

_Zed. In full armor. What's he after?_

She looked around wondering if he was looking for someone else, only to find she was the only person in the room.

_Well I might as well try and look dignified._

"Long day?"

"I'm fighting Shen soon." _Well that was blunt. _

"Again?"

"Will you be watching?"

_Wait what? _

"Presumably."

_There's something unusual going on here. _

Determined to find what he was hiding, she went straight for his weakness.

"It'll probably just be another draw though, won't it?"

If Zed reacted, she didn't see it. "You never know. I might have a few surprises…."

Akali realised she was staring at Zed as he walked off.

_Considering you're inviting everyone to come watch…you've definitely got a surprise. ._

_But what?_

Jumping out of the water, Akali raced back to her quarters to prepare to watch the fight.

_Why do I get the feeling this fight is going to go horribly wrong?_

Quickly making her way towards the fight arena, Akali was hoping that the overwhelming sense of dread she had was just her being paranoid. _Like that's going to be true. With the amount of people I've seen heading in this direction, someones has to be going to lose this fight. Fast. And since Zed went out and invited them…. it's not going to be him. _Entering the arena, she found a crowd of people already inside. And already in the centre….

"Like my new fans, Shen? They've come to see you lose!"

In response Shen bowed and half the crowd started chanting his name.

"You ready?"

"I was _born _ready! Let's do this!"

_Zed has to be up to something. And Shen knows it. _

As the fight began Akali watched as Shen charged forward into Zed, nearly knocking him over. _Maybe I was wrong to be paranoid. This seems pretty standard…_

Responding, Zed quickly threw a lightning fast counterpunch that bounced off the side of Shen's face before he could dodge it and sent him staggering.

The entire crowd went into uproar as Akali stared at the battle in front of her.

_That was way too fast. If he had been holding a weapon..._

Hardly aware of Shen or her surroundings, Akali continued to watch Zed fight intently.

_This can't be me imagining things. He's not even trying to use his training. It's almost like…._

_He's pretending to be an assassin. _

As Shen blocked another round of punches he lunged forward again to try and take Zed by surprise, only for Zed to dodge and move backwards. Backing away from the direct assault, Shen began to slowly circle around Zed instead.

_And you can't give an assassin that amount of space._

Then Zed charged.

_Thunk. _

So fast that Akali could hardly see it, Zed sent a blow directly towards Shen's ribs. With no way to react in time, Shen countered as the blow struck regardless, sending a huge kick towards Zed's chest as Zed dropped his guard for a millisecond. Akali stared. The kick missed. And Zed suddenly appeared behind Shen and knocked him to the ground.

The battle was over. And Akali knew that Zed wasn't following the path of balance anymore. _The other ninjas….they do exist. _

_And if I know….so does Shen's father._

Suddenly overcome with an urge to throw up, Akali bolted out of the arena, and away from the shouting beginning within.

* * *

Throwing open the door, Karma stormed into the Hall of the Elders. After hoping her village would be left unharmed or be in full retreat, she had been horrified to see an army at least the size of the village directly outside, and petrified to see people continuing their normal lives within the village regardless. And now…..she wasn't in the best of moods.

"I cannot _believe_ this. In case you somehow haven't already guessed, we are being _invaded_."

"We were already aware of that situation." The enormous respect Karma usually had for the elders had never been in doubt before, but from what she knew of the Noxians….this was _insane_. "So why hasn't anyone in this village actually _begun_ to_ retreat?_

"The Noxians made it clear as soon as they arrived that we cannot retreat without being cut down. They continue to ride horses around our valley in the morning and light torches around our village at dusk."

Karma stared in confusion. _They can't expect us to fight, can they?_

"So what the _fuck_ are they waiting for?"

"They haven't said."

"There has to be another way to get the villagers out of here. Perhaps if we do it in the dead of night while they least expect it…."

"We are going to ask for a peaceful resolution."

"_What?" That's suicide!_

"It is clearly what the Noxians are waiting for, and is the _only_ option we have."

"They are going to _cut you down_ the minute you leave the village. They do not accept peaceful surrender!"

"We do not have any other choices to make!"

"Well let me think of one!"

"I am not changing my decision if it means going against tradition!"

"_Please_!"

"…I think it would be best if you left us to discuss this ourselves."

Barely able to control her emotions, Karma threw open the door, walked outside, swore, realised she was walking towards the enemy army, swore again, and walked as far away from the army and the hall of the elders as she possibly could.

* * *

Sitting on the shore of the temple island, Akali stared out in the direction of the Ionian mainland. As the clouds had arrived from over the horizon, the wind had sent massive gusts in from the ocean and Akali could feel ice crystals forming from the seawater on her skin. But she didn't move.

_I have no other choice. If I go back inside…..I will have to tell people what I know. _

_And then…..they will hate and fear me. There isn't any other option. _

Closing her eyes, she thought of Irelia again to slowly calm herself down.

_She's standing, directly in front of me. And we can live together and I won't be judged by anyone and…..she's not is she. _

As she heard a noise behind her, she opened her eyes to see nothing but water and the distant shape of the mainland in front of her. The footsteps she heard approaching were nearly as natural as breathing to her, and she saw no need to turn around.

"Akali."

"Mother. Am I late for the meeting?"

"No. There were…..unusual circumstances."

_I thought so. Zed's been removed. _

"So I thought I'd inform you myself. The war in Ionia does not require our intervention any longer. ".

_What? But I just completed a mission there! _

"We did all we could."

Akali stood completely still, putting all her effort into looking indifferent, while on the inside her mind was in turmoil.

_But that means…_

"And as we cannot interfere in the war any longer, and cannot reach Valoran without passing through Ionia, nobody is permitted to leave the island. Including you. Do you understand?"

The impact of those words was so strong Akali nearly lost her balance with shock.

_But if I can't leave the island…I may never see Irelia again, _

As Akali saw all her hopes become crushed in front of her, she realised her mother was waiting for an answer. And in that instant she knew she would have to say the hardest two words of her entire life. After a couple of seconds, she said them.

"Yes, mother."

* * *

Furious, Karma stormed around the border of her village. Her attempts at coming up with escape strategies having failed, she was now furious with both herself and the elders, but still found herself becoming obsessed with finding an escape. Nearly completely insane with her obsession, she suddenly realised she had company, spun around, and stiffened. A little girl, barely older than 8 or 9, stared back at her.

"Are you alright?"

Taken aback by the question, Karma stared before regaining her composure.

"Yes. I was just…." Having no idea how long the child had been standing there, she decided to lie as little as she could. "Thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?"

"You wouldn't understand." Whatever she had just said was clearly the wrong thing because the child gasped in awe.

_"_Are you thinking about magic? Are you a mage?!"

"Well… I guess you could say that." Karma knew she had enormous magical potential, but using it….the thought of using her powers absolutely terrified her.

"You should just use your magic on the army and make them go boom!"

She froze. What was stopping her from just firing a spell into the army and killing everyone? It would be so easy and yet…. to her people, to the child standing in front of her, it would make her a cold-blooded murderer.

"I…I don't have the magic."

_But what if I do? What if it was that easy?_

_Why is the village so damn noisy?_

A thought struck her. _"_Shouldn't you be doing…something else?"

The elders went out to talk and they haven't come back yet so I'm meant to be in the attic... But this is way more exciting!"

Karma's blood ran cold. _I'm out of options._ _They're coming. And that means….everyones going to die. _As she looked at the innocent child before her in that instant she felt something powerful stir within her. And in that instant she knew what she had to do. "Go home. I have to go somewhere."

"_Where are you going?"_

_Where am I going?_

_I'm going to stop that army, even if it kills me._

* * *

On the outskirts of the Placidium, a small crowd had gathered to investigate the opening of a new store, which for some reason, sold only chocolate. Looking at the crowd gathered for the opening, Syndra was rather pleased. It did take a lot of work to get the store set up. Far less than an average person, but still quite a lot of magical labour.

_As soon as I start my plans to take over Ionia the entire island gets surrounded by Noxians. Bloody hell. Still… this should be a useful distraction for the time being. _

The crowd went silent as she took to the stairs in front of them and spoke.

"I hereby declare Sandy's chocolates to be open for business!"

* * *

As the Noxian army prepared to begin the massacre, Karma slowly walked towards the gate of the village and towards the waiting Noxian army, almost without thinking. Her mind and every fibre of her body were completely devoted to using the magic within her, but she still managed to find her way through the gates until she stopped less than 100 feet away from the Noxian army. The cold, hard eyes of the general stared back at her, showing faint amusement.

Smirking at her he jeered mockingly.

"Another offer of peace? I thought you would be less stupid."

Looking straight into his eyes, Karma spoke as calmly as if he was a close friend.

"This is not a offer of peace…this _is a gesture of resistance."_

Then she exploded.

What happened next, she wasn't entirely sure.

_I can't remember getting up, but here I am….Did I fall over? _

_I felt something come out of my chest…._

She looked at her chest only to find it completely intact.

_Did something happen?_

Suddenly aware of the complete chaos surrounding her, she looked around and saw two dragons easily 20 feet long on either side of her and made entirely out of fire. Then she realised the enemy army was moving away from her. _Is the enemy army….retreating?_

Giddy with jubilation she turned around. "_Everyone! Get out, now!"_

The village people looked at her as if she was completely mad, which admittedly wasn't that far from the truth. Desperately trying to get her point across, she tried screaming at them again. "_I'm not sure how long I can hold this up for! Placidium! Now!"_

And with the enemy army in complete disarray, Karma, the two dragons, and the remaining population of the village swarmed towards the safety of Northern Ionia.

* * *

As wave after wave crashed into the rock face below her, Akali stared out in the direction of the mainland even as thick fog began to descend, completely obscuring the mainland. . Suddenly as a massive wave crashed into the rocks below her, Akali looked up in shock as she felt water cascading down her face.

_Am I…Am I crying?_

_I guess I must be. _

_Because I'm afraid…I'm afraid Irelia is never going to forgive me. _

_Because I'm afraid that Irelia is going to forget…forget that I ever existed. . _

Slowly, she managed to get to her feet. She had other duties she needed to attend to, duties she had forgotten about. But she swore for as long as she was trapped on this island, she was never going to forget Irelia's face. And as she turned away from the shore, she swore she heard Irelia's voice. Turning around as if she was speaking to Irelia for the last time, she spoke.

"Goodbye Irelia_._ I...I will_ never _forget you."

_**End of Part 1**_

* * *

**A/N:** **Sooooo the reason's the stories in parts now is because I realised there was a plot hole just before I started writing this chapter, and the parts was how I fixed it. So part 2 is identical to part 1 except there's around a 7 year gap between the end of part 1 and the start of part 2. I should take the same amount of time to post the first chapter of part 2 as I did to post this chapter give or take, and probably even less because the chapters are shorter, and I'll add it as a new chapter to this story when its up.****_  
_**

**In the meantime, thanks for reading!**

**Love you all.**


	9. The Blades Handle?

_**This chapter takes place 7 years after the old one, and is still a prequel to the old lore, at least in parts. So I'm using the old lore as canon at least until the actual plot gets going. This part will probably be about 2 to 3 times the length of 'Part 1' if you could call it that but with uni finals in a months time I'll see how I go.**_

* * *

As the sun began setting over the horizon, thick smoke billowed over the silenced Placidium. With their optimism and defiance against losing their culture having vanished, the residents could only watch as the last few homeless and heavily injured survivors stumbled through, more casualties of Noxian ruthlessness. _Now there's nothing between them and the Placidium. Except us. And our luck is coming to an end._

From the window of her quarters above the centre of Ionian military operations, Irelia stared towards the source of the smoke. Ionia's luck had been remarkable for most of the war but in response the Noxians had launched a series of desperate attacks that had given them the advantage. And now….

_Soldiers with the strength of ten men and the brains of wild animals. They were bombed before they could turn around and savage their own troops. But the Noxians got what they wanted. _

"I'm going to talk to the war council."

Despite the fact she lied constantly now, she still found it hard to believe how easily they came out of her mouth. _It's not a big deal. No-one will die because of it. I just want to ask about something. _Leaving her quarters, she made her way through the Placidium, which was now completely empty. _Everybody's gone. _Slowly she walked through the abandoned city.

_Everyone's found something important to do. Presumably that means he should be the only person in the... gar…dens…_

Slightly in shock, she stared in surprise at the hundreds of people meditating silently. It was almost as if everyone in the Placidium had decided to meditate at once. _Or maybe he won't be. This is….a lot of people. And if people who rarely meditate have decided to start…then people who always meditate will definitely be around. _

Attempting to disturb as few people as she could, she walked towards the looming monument in the centre of the gardens. _The Wuju shrine._

_We never did find any other survivors from the village. _

Despite the vigorous arguing by the only survivor of the Noxian onslaught of the Wuju, the shrine had still been constructed, but not without extensive changes from the original design. Even considering that the original design would have bankrupted Ionia, the version they decided on seemed to be a little….plain.

_What's it going to look like when we actually get gems to furnish the place with?_

Slowly she moved around the inside of the shrine and looked around for any signs of movement. _Nothing. _Not that she expected anyone but him to be here anyway.

Walking around as quietly as she possibly could, she called out softly. "Hello?"

She knew that he wasn't dangerous but didn't want to take any risks. After his entire village got destroyed he was calm in appearance but on the inside….

_No-one knew what he was like on the inside. _

The warrior entered the room and customarily knelt in front of her.

"General Lito."

"Master Yi. Did I interrupt?"

"No, not at all. I wondered if you would arrive."

We're fighting tomorrow."

"I was aware of that. You wanted to discuss something?"

"Yes."

"You're nervous. Don't be. If you succeed, you succeed, if you don't, why does it matter if the reinforcements come or not?"

"I want to give a speech. To the troops tomorrow. And I have no idea how to inspire them. Do you….?"

"A wise man once said that great speeches do not come from the mind. They come from the heart. Which means that instead of being inspiring…one should just be honest instead. "

"But how do I…"

"And _that _is for you to figure out tomorrow. For now, however you look like you need to get some sleep."

"But…"

"Goodnight general Lito."

With the conversation having been completely sidetracked and rampant self-doubt running through her mind, Irelia decided to leave, despite being more puzzled than before. "Goodnight, Master Yi."

_How on Earth does he expect me to be honest with them? I'm not even honest with myself! There's no way I'm telling the troops how suicidal this is, and no way I can make something up!_

_Unless…._

_I know someone inspirational. _

As quickly as she could Irelia set out towards the hospital.

* * *

"_Come on…"_

_I can do this. She's going to wake up any minute now and…_

_She's not going to. _

_I tried but…._

_I'm so sorry. I don't know who you are…but I'm so sorry. _Closing the eyes, Soraka suddenly felt sick. _I….I just don't know what I'm doing anymore. _

_And everything I have done…has just made things worse. _

Soraka had began by refusing to acknowledge the war and had simply healed the innocent civilians. But Ionia had a culture that needed protecting, the wounded had kept showing up, the Ionian soldiers had families….

Then everything had gone horribly wrong. Either the Noxians had realised they were fighting the same soldiers repeatedly or they had just become desperate, because they became absolutely ruthless. And then the necromancy started.

If healing someone could be have been called easy, it rapidly became nightmarish. Injured soldiers and civilians started dying in the dozens The Noxians realised they were succeeding and brought better necromancers. And the war dragged on with no end in sight.

_I forced this onto everyone._

"Soraka…is everything alright?"

_The nurses keep insisting I'm doing well…but I know the truth. _

"_She's dead."_

"I'm….I'm sorry. But you couldn't have done anything…"

"_I could have not bothered to show up. All I've done is get in the way."_

"But it's not your fault!"

"_YES. IT. IS!"_

Practically storming out of the building, Soraka stormed down the street, hardly even caring where she was going.

_I should have died while I had the chance._

* * *

The hospital was so completely packed with people that Irelia felt worse just by entering.

_Could I have done something to save these people? Honestly? I…I'm getting paranoid. _

"Where's Soraka? I need to ask her something!"

A nurse looked at her. "She just left! You might want to wait though she's a little…"

_Oh great._

"I'll deal with it!"

_Why didn't I tell her while I had a chance!_

_The day before we defend everything in Ionia, and the only thing I can think of is that fucking speech!_

Storming outside, Irelia ran towards the library, her determination making her completely oblivious to the patient in the hospital who seemed to be watching her….

* * *

Soraka had only made it half of the way towards the library before she ran into the last person she wanted to see. Or rather, the last person she wanted to see ran into her.

"Soraka?"

_!_

Soraka quickly tried to act like nothing had happened but couldn't bring herself to make eye contact. _"__Yes...Duchess?"_

"I was just wondering if I could accompany you to your house for a few hours?"

_Why does she want to ask me now of all things? _

Finding herself unable to refuse the offer without being impolite, Soraka grudgingly accepted. _"__I guess you may as well come…" _

As they started walking, Soraka found herself walking towards her house instead of the library while containing her mood as best she could. She wasn't in the mood for conversation but she couldn't refuse the only person who actually understood her. Whether that was good or bad…..was something she would deal with when the time came.

"Nice….house.."

"_I didn't choose to live here."_

Soraka's house could probably be described as a small temple much to her chagrin. Why celestial beings were deserving of larger houses still managed to have eluded her.

"Ionia has a tendency to reward you whether you want it or not. I'm currently thinking of living somewhere a bit smaller as well. Should I prepare some tea?"

"_Thankyou….Did you want to discuss something?"_

Karma sighed and put her ornate teacup down on the table. _"_To be honest…I saw you upset and I just wanted to know what was troubling you."

Soraka suddenly realised that she had underestimated Karma's perception enormously. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, she panicked.

"_I can deal with it myself!"_

"Not from what I've seen."

"_I just…"_

"Hold my hand….and try and tell me what the problem is."

Reluctantly Soraka clasped her hand together with Karma's. As she suddenly felt Karma's warmth and touch she froze in place, and Karma's hand tightened even more firmly around hers. Slowly she began to focus on the sound of her slow breathing which had become the only noise in the room.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"_I'm…I'm just making people suffer."_

"That's not true. Think of all the people who you've managed to save."

"_I haven't saved anyone! The only people that really needed help are the ones that I…"_

"You haven't failed anyone. People sometimes die and there's nothing you can do about it. You just have to let go."

"_I can't let go! What happens if the war continues? What happens if I lose someone who I trust? What's going to happen now because I'm USELESS?!"_

As Karma began to speak _the_ slightest trace of emotion began to enter her voice.

"Soraka, listen_. _You can't carry the world on your shoulders. Believe me…I've tried. I don't like talking about this but I once felt like you do now. I felt like I was the only person doing anything and that everything I was doing was the worst thing to do…But I was wrong. You need to realise that having talent does not make you the cause of every problem. Do you understand?"

"_Yes." Karma has a beautiful voice…._

"Now this is probably more harm than good, but…I'm going to tell you anyway.

Have you ever heard of the Institute of War?"

"_No…"_

"It's an organisation that for the last 20 years has been promoting peace throughout Runeterra. Basically they organise the massive conflicts between nations to occur with only 6-10 people in tiny arenas with use of magic. So no wars…no deaths….no injuries. Just magic. About 2 years ago I began arrange Ionia's arrival into the Institute and now...I've finally finished. Within the next few days the final steps will be achieved and then…we'll be safe."

"_And the war?"_

"There will be no war. Noxus can't fight us because they've already joined the Institute. And then Ionia will be at peace."

_The war can end. We just need a few more days…and then it will end. _

"_Have you told anyone else?"_

"The general knows, the council know and the general's advisors….but that's it. If I told anyone else…there would be chaos."

"_And if Noxus invade before then?"_

"Then I will fight them every step of the way to the city centre."

The room was once again overtaken with dead silence.

"_Karma….whether it works or not…for trying this…you're still incredible."_

"No I'm not I-I'm just…"

As Karma suddenly turned beet-red, she stood up.

"_Is something wrong?"_

"I think I should be going…."

Mimicking what Karma had done earlier, Soraka grabbed Karma's hand.

"_You can stay here, I don't mind."_

There was a final long pause. Then Soraka decided to break the silence.

"_Hot chocolate?"_

"Soraka?"

Irelia was so certain the library was empty that getting caught yelling was bothering her far less than accidentally overlooking where Soraka was. The problem was every time she prepared to leave, there was another corridor she couldn't remember whether she had checked yet or not. Every. Single. Time.

"Soraka…"

_This is ridiculous. Not even the librarian's here_.

Somewhere on the balcony above and to her right, she heard a door slam shut.

_That has to be her. _Moving in the direction of the noise she wondered briefly to herself if she was getting lost. _This library would be a lot easier to navigate if they took all the bookshelves away..._

Starting to head towards the source of the noise, she suddenly ducked out of the way by pure instinct as a dagger flew past her head. She looked up. A man in a ragged Ionian soldier outfit and a face full of scars looked back at her.

Throwing another dagger he snarled at her and the dagger missed her by barely a fingernail as Irelia subconsciously moved out of the way.

_Really? Assassinated in a library?_

_I'm going to kill that Noxian piece of shit. _

Sprinting, she threw herself behind an enormous bookshelf, using it as a wall. As she saw a hallway in front of extending into another room she quickly analyzed her surroundings.

_He can't see me, or the hallway from that angle._

_He has to know there's a room because there's a hallway there from the upper level too. _

_I can't see him either but he's on the balcony, and he's not going to try a fistfight, so there are two ways he can go to check this side of the room and he's expecting me to run. _

Slowly, she backed out the way she came using the bookshelf as cover.

_No response. He hasn't seen me from up there…..so he'll keep searching. _

As quickly as she could possibly go without making any noise, she painstakingly made it to the upper level and passed through the hallway to the room she had seen him enter.

The possibility of it being a trap flew through her mind.

_If the room isn't large or furnished he could already know I'm behind him._

_If I'm not going to die it better be both. _

As she entered the room something metallic threw itself at her and she lurched out of the way. The assassin, with blades somehow literally emerging from his wrists, snarled at her.

"_Die."_

Then he charged.

Putting all her attention and effort into dodging his swipes Irelia found herself completely unable to retaliate to the assassins longer reach.

_If I had my weapon with me….._

_There isn't any way to beat his range!_

_Unless…_

In desperation, Irelia threw out a massive kick at the assassins head only for him to duck underneath it and unleash an enormous swipe at the same time directly towards her chest.

Grunting in response to the visible scratch marks on her blouse, Irelia threw out another punch, and watched as the assassin simply stepped backwards away from her.

_What is he doing…._

The assassin leered at her and smiled.

"Poisoned blades, bitch!"

Finding the nerve to respond, Irelia leered back at the assassin.

"Armor, bitch!"

Then with all the force she could muster she launched a final jumpkick at the assassin, launching him off the balcony and towards the floor of the library below.

_Crunch. _

Looking over the balcony Irelia stared at the body of the assassin.

_Not moving. Hopefully that ended that for good. _

_What am I going to tell the librarian? _

_Oh sorry, someone tried to assassinate me so I kicked him over a balcony._

Deciding to stay in the library and at least take some responsibility she leaned over the balcony and tried to ignore the body on the lower floor.

_It's funny. Because if Zelos was here I bet he would come up with some joke and I just stand here and stare at a corpse in complete silence. _

_Although I guess you could say the assassin...lost his balance._

* * *

_**Puts on sunglasses**_

_**...YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...**_

_**Because Ionians...they love balance, that sort of thing...It's a horrible pun.**_

_**Also that Karmaraka isn't actually intended to be a ship. I dont even know why I put it in there tbh. It's just there.**_

_**Stay tuned!**_

_**-BBO**_


	10. Ninjas

I got bored, so I stopped writing for about 2-2 and a half weeks. That's all there is to it. Also this chapter was a bitch to write.

All 4000 words of it.

Enjoy

* * *

"Hey Shen."

"What is it?"

"Do you get the feeling something bad is about to happen?"

Around the Kinkou temple the afternoon sky was obscured by thick black clouds, and the wind was picking up speed and sending waves closer and closer to the top of the cliffs.

"It certainly looks like it will rain soon."

"That's not what I meant! Don't you think at least the weather just seems a little _unusual?"_

"Kennen, you're being paranoid. Go for a run around the island or something."

"But….Fine. _Lightning Rush!"_

Rapidly leaving Shen behind, Kennen built up speed and soon was flying along the cliffs towards the forested end of the island, until suddenly seeing something out of the corner of his eyes, he stopped dead in his tracks. A small boat hardly big enough to fit five people lay on the beach.

_I didn't know we used this beach for sailing. _

_Come to think of it I didn't think we used this boat for sailing either…._

_An invasion. _

_And there's only one place on the island where invaders can hide._

Without even glancing back towards the temple, Kennen darted into the thick canopy of the forest, before easily climbing as far away from the ground as he could. As he paused at the top of one of the thick tree branches, a noise suddenly rang out for a split second from deep somewhere deeper within the forest.

_Well that was almost too easy. There has to be a catch._

Silently scurrying between the tree tops in the direction of the noise, Kennen arrived deep in the heart of the now completely silent forest.

_The noise came from somewhere around here…._

Waiting for the invaders to show themselves, Kennen heard rustling directly below him and nearly fell off the tree branch in shock.

_I can't see them. Where are…_

As he stared intently a group of men leapt out of the nearby trees dressed entirely in black and red and landed on the forest floor below him without making a single noise.

_Well that…..was impressive. These Noxians are better than I thought they would be. _

The largest of the men, who resembled the tree he had jumped out of and appeared to even dwarf Shen began to speak, his voice muffled due to the metal mask he was wearing.

"We've been summoned. Return!"

_Perfect. _

Completely obscured by tree branches, Kennen began to follow the warriors further into the forest.

* * *

_I miss you._

_You never really smiled or showed emotion but somehow, I still found you compassionate and loving. You taught me everything there was to know, and you were always there for me when I needed you. You helped me find the path that was meant for me, and you made sure I never let go. _

_I miss you, mother. _

The sudden death of Akali's mother a few months ago had been a shock to everyone on the island, and had left Akali as the de-facto head of the Kinkou, which was more of a title than anything else due to their self-imposed isolation. _At least the Institute of War attempts to solve our problems. But in the meantime that leaves us to…..not much. _

"How's the tree?"

"Alive, as always."

As Akali had quickly realised she had no idea where her mothers grave should be placed they had placed it under the largest and most well kept tree on the island, only a few yards away from the temple itself.

"Have you seen Kennen anywhere?"

"No. Why?"

"We were walking around the island and he ran ahead of me 45 minutes ago. Are you sure he's not back yet?"

"Maybe he's found something interesting to o do?"

"By himself? For 45 minutes? With his attention span?"

"Good point. But what do you want me to about it?"

"Just if you see him, tell him I'm talking to my father and I want to talk in about an hours time."

"Good luck…."

"Hmph."

Returning to her meditation, it suddenly occurred to Akali she couldn't remember the last time Kennen wasn't 15 minutes early for something.

_And now he's late…..he must have found something really interesting._

* * *

Hovering directly above a group of 15 assassins that were all armed to the teeth, Kennen was listening to the group conversation as intently as possible. He had been worried the invaders would set up a clearing at the very least to serve as a camp, but instead….there was just more forest. And 10 other assassins that appeared to be sparring ruthlessly. He had been about to leave then but one of the assassins had mentioned a plan. And that didn't leave him a lot of other options.

"Why are we still waiting!"

"The Master's plan needs to work completely. We cannot have setbacks or failures."

"This is stupidly complicated."

"Do you want to have your head on a stick!?"

"He's not here now, is he?"

"That's what the last person said!"

"**He's away. Finishing his plan. So we wait."**

_Plan? Finish?_

"**And then, when he returns…we strike. Fear the shadows!"**

"Fear the shadows!"

_Time to go. _

_Chik. _

In the next split second after Kennen took a step forward he was shocked to find that he had made noise, and more shocked to find that what he had stepped on definitely didn't look remotely like a tree.

_It actually looks like some sort of mechanism. ?_

_But who would put something like this in a tree?_

_Unless_

_FU-_

* * *

Somehow, Akali found she had managed to actually sink into a trance while meditating instead of just sitting with her eyes shut, which was usually quite impressive.

_Finally, a good day where I can sit here, let my mind take me wherever I please…._

_The sun was shining ferociously as she found herself standing in the centre of the bustling Placidium marketplace. Looking around in amazement she revelled in the noise and the smells surrounding her, in relief at finally escaping the island that had held her for so long. _

_As she stood there simply taking in every sensation, a child's voice rang out clearly in her direction, "Mummy!"_

_Unsure why she was paying attention, when the girl ran up to her and grabbed her hand Akali simply stood there completely stunned for a split second. . _

"_I found something. Can you look at it! Please?!"_

_After staring at the child for a few seconds she found herself replying nearly automatically. _

"_If you insist…."_

"_It's this way!"_

_As the child practically dragged her along Akali tried to figure out who the father possibly could be. The child's hair was a deep brown except too short for a ponytail and her eyes were a piercing green. ild stopped pulling her and as Akali looked up found herself staring at ly escaping the island that had held her doe_

_If the father's Shen I'm fucked. _

_Maybe one of the students…_

_No that's embarrassing. It has to be imaginary. I'm never going to live this down….._

_Eventually the child stopped pulling her and as Akali looked up found herself staring at an enormous dragon nearly 20 feet long and 6 feet high. _

"_I don't think we can get you that sweetie…"_

"_But Irie said I can! Don't you Irie?"_

_Who on earth is…_

_Then a soft and feminine voice sang out from behind her and Akali turned around in shock. This doesn't make sense!_

"_Come on sweetie…just this once we can get something for our daughter, hmm? Or do you need persuasion?"_

_Suddenly she felt Irelia's warm arms around her neck, pulling her in and then, Irelia was making out with her as hard as she could….._

_Aaaaaaa-_

Frantically pulling herself away from Irelia, Akali woke up and nearly fell over backwards. .

"SHIT!"

She sat up again, finding her body as stiff as a board and that she was blushing furiously.

_What the…_

_The fuck…._

"What the fuck is wrong with me?! That didn't…."

Standing there confused and panicked she found even more blood rushing to her head.

_I haven't thought about her for years!_

_Am I…._

_No. That wasn't even romantic! That was just…..terrifying. _

Vivid memories that had been suppressed after a year of hopeful waiting suddenly re-entered her mind.

_I'm supposed to have forgotten about her! I want to be able to have forgotten about her!_

_I gave up thinking about her 5 years ago and it still happens!_

_Why does it still happen damnit!_

"Akali!"

"Shen! What's…."

Shens usually blank face had been completely replaced with nothing but rage.

"With me, now!"

"What's going on?"

"We've been attacked!"

"What do you mean, _attacked?"_

"An assassin was just seconds away from killing my father. I managed to get in the way but whoever it was escaped into the woods."

_Noxians._

"Do you think that's got something to do with…"

"I hope not. Go and look in the woods for Kennen. I'm going to track the assassin down."

"Are you insane?! You want him to assassinate _you_ as well?"

"Don't. Question. Me. Just go!"

Too concerned for Kennen's safety to argue any further, Akali sprinted into the forest.

* * *

Sprinting through the forest pathway just slow enough to see where she was going, Akali somehow managed to keep herself upright and look around for Kennen at the same time. The forest itself just seemed to be a passage of blurs around her but she knew, _hoped_ that Kennen wouldn't have left the path and that she would find him any second now.

"Kennen!"

_I'm never going to be able to find him at this rate! I need to move faster!_

"Kennen! Ken-"

Suddenly a jet-black shuriken flew out from nowhere, just barely missing her shoulder.. Instantly on high alert, she spun around and an assassin dressed in jet black sprinted out of the trees straight towards her. Reacting instantly she threw one one of her kamas, and as he was just about to get into range to attack her.

_Shadow dance!_

_Thud._

Picking up her Kansa she inspected the body in front of her.

_Some sort of mask, male, shuriken, bladed gauntlets…Well built…lithe…and Ionian?_

_That's strange. _

"_**Interesting**_**."**

_Two assass- _Barely registering the rest of the thought, she turned to see another assassin behind her with a far larger and more detailed mask than the first standing there rather nonchalantly. She began to eye him off for a strike only to find he didn't react at all.

"Who the hell are you?"

"_**Mwahahahahahahaha**_**…****."**

"Tell me or I'll strike you down!"

"_**You actually don't remember who I am?!"**_

In one swift movement the mask obscuring the assassins face fell to the ground, leaving Akali speechless.

"…No…"

"_**Yes…that's right. You abandoned me. The entire order abandoned me! But now I've come back to show everyone darkness truly is more powerful!**_

"I…I'm going to KILL YOU!"

"_**That's right…let the darkness consume your mind your fear and anger cold your judgement!"**_

"You killed Kennen!" The fact that the whole forest could hear them wasn't bothering Zed in the least, assuming that the Zed she was aware of still existed.

"_**I haven't killed him, I simply humiliated him….for now."**_

"What the FUCK is that supposed to mean?"

In response Zed smiled at her as if he had been waiting for this moment in the conversation.

"_**Join us Akali…use your talents for the power of Shadow or Kennen dies!"**_

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"_**You don't. Unless you follow me."**_

_Here's only one option where I can be certain of keeping Kennen alive _

As Akali finished thinking she realised there was complete silence.

"Well?'Are you going to take me to Kennen?"

"_**You've decided well."**_

"_Fuckhead."_

In response, Zed simply sneered at her_**.**_

"_**Soon you shall realise the truth of the Shadow Order."**_

* * *

As Akali entered the camp, the first thing she noticed was that Zed was taking the Shadow Order very seriously. At least 20 members seemed to be hovering around the camp dressed entirely in black and red and avoiding any eye contact with her.

_This group is nearly half the size of our own Order._

A_How did he find so many people?_

"_**Recruiting people to the dark side is so easy. Everyone has thoughts of revenge, deceit, pride. And once I have what I need I intend to show everyone that this is the case."**_

Akali looked around at the nonexistent campsite._**"**_Some camp you've got here."

"_**The bare essentials are required as my recruits obey my every word. I am stronger and faster than they will ever be and I kill those who disagree with me."**_

"You're a _monster_."

"_**And you are an assassin, who kills anyone she's told to. Hypocrisy is, and always will be, the greatest of all evils."**_

As she finished viewing the campsite she warily pointed a karma at Zed.

"Where's Kennen?!"

"_**Open the bag."**_

"You can't keep Kennen inside a _bag_."

"_**You can if you use negatron."**_

"You fuckers thought ahead for this."

Opening the bag herself, she quickly ducked to avoid the yordle she anticipated would come flying at her face but instead he flew directly at Zed, who was now surrounded by ninjas.

"_I'm going to kill you!"_

"Kennen_, stop!"_

"A-Akali? What are you…?"

"_**She came here so she could join the true ninja order!"**_

"I came here to save you!"

Kennen who was clearly about to explode with rage at this point snarled directly at Zed.

"I'm not going to let you fuckers get away with this!"

"_**Unless you want to both die there isn't any other option. And besides I'm sure you can always find a better replacement for her somewhere."**_

Rushing forwards, Akali began to restrain Kennen with one arm, while holding both Karma's in the other.

"Kennen….leave it. Because I'm not joining them anyway."

Zed's expression changed so little she was beginning to wonder if he was hearing what she was saying, but she continued anyway.

"This isn't a new order of the ninjas. This is a group of murderers! You say that everyone is just like you but you've long lost the only things that matter. And if I have to fight all of you at once, so be it."

"_**Suicide instead of admitting to the darkness within you? Surely it would be easier to admit to you hidden emotions, to admit that what you call balance is nothing of the sort! Why can't you just accept the truth?"**_

When Akali opened her mouth she wasn't even remotely surprised to hear Shen speaking as well as herself as he teleported himself in next to her. .

"Because it's a small island."

"Every single ninja can see the storm clouds that you happen to be under Zed. It's over."

"_**I honestly thought the fist of shadow would be interested in learning the I was wrong. Kill them!"**_

"Kennen, storm front, straight ahead, now!"

"Eat lightning bitches! Kyaaaaaaaah!"

"Akali, wait for my signal!" Shen dashed forwards taking and took several of the men with him, but leaving Akali staring off against two of the largest men she'd ever seen, and completely unafraid of either of them.

"Well, who wants to die first?"

Charging at exactly the same time towards her, the apparent answer they gave was "Both."

So then she vanished.

The two men took a second to realise this and instantly threw their gauntlets out in a circle, the blades flying straight over her head as she flattened herself to the ground.

_You want to both die first?_

_Well I might save you for last then. _

"Akali, now!"

Throwing herself at the first of the two men she immediately jumped away as soon as she reached him and headed towards the second.

"One second!"

Doubling back, Shen slammed a Ki strike into the seconds ribs as he tried to counter and Akali flew off unharmed and went towards the third one who was struck by her kamas midair and finished off before he hit the ground.

Looking up she surveyed the rest of them who were all in barely any sort condition to keep going having taken lightning to the face multiple times.

Which was a shame.

She was just getting started.

* * *

**_Idiots. _**

_**You give them one job and they fail as soon as you leave. **_

The barely contained anger Zed felt for his students was rising again and was stronger than he had ever felt it.

_**Could it be that Akali did not sway as much as I had hoped she would? Did she not see the truth? Maybe she needs to have suffered more to fully understand like I do.**_

"Master…is something wrong?"

"_**My plan failed."**_

"With group C? Well what should we do?"

"_**Get the other groups! We're going to storm the fucking temple!"**_

_**I'll give her something to hate alright.**_

Staring at the aftermath of the fight Akali couldn't help but wonder if the whole experience had felt a little _easy_ somehow. One quick glance at Kennen indicated he and Shen were definitely thinking the same thing.

"That was way too easy."

"Indeed. The one thing that turned the tide of the fight was the arrival of the other ninjas, but why would Zed not see it coming?"

"He's definitely arrogant enough to not see this coming. But even if he didn't…"

"What?"

"He has to have a larger army on the island. He has to. "

"But we decimated it just then! There's no way that… he can fight us now!"

"He never intended to fight us. The first thing he did was try and exchange Kennen for my obedience and he only tried to kill me when I refused."

"So why bring 15 others onto the island?"

Then realisation struck.

"Who's guarding the temple?"

Complete silence. Then Shen turned and Akali could clearly see the fear in his eyes.

"Back to the temple! NOW!"

* * *

"_**You are beginning to make me lose my patience!"**_

"Zed, please! Listen to me! I only want to help you as your father!"

"_**I HAVE NO FATHER!"**_

Zed's furious yell resonated off the walls of the building and out into the temple's courtyard. His old master, trying to stop him? Wanting Zed to treat him as his father after years of humiliation? The only dignified thing would be to kill the old man here and shut him up, but Zed couldn't rely on anybody else knowing where the box was. Which left him trapped in the temple while his enemies could regroup behind him.

"I implore you then, as your equal! Dedicate yourself to balance, cast off the shadows upon you and destroy the box!"

Barely remaining calm, Zed stopped himself from grabbing the man by the throat as soon as he mentioned the box.

"_**The box. Show me, where is it?!"**_

"I knew I could have some faith in you! Come this way and redeem yourself and your followers!"

Barely listening to his former masters meaningless words, Zed signalled hides followers to stay, and silently began to follow him into the heart of the temple.

* * *

Sprinting headlong into the temple expecting a battle, Akali found nothing. The entire temple was completely silent.

"Shen…"

"There's nobody here."

"Is this good?"

"Yes. Kennen would be kicking up a storm if something had happened."

"But what on Runeterra is going on? We don't even know what he's thinking."

"Zed?"

"Your father."

"I'm going to look for Kennen. You go after Zed. If you see him, kill him on sight."

"Shen…"

"I'm not taking any risks. He's dangerous and you know your job."

Not about to tell Shen he was missing the point, Akali silently followed Shen through the halls.

"They have to be in the same place right? There would be a lot more noise if they weren't. "

Walking into the main chamber of the temple, Akali suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

_My god…._

At least 40 ninjas wearing shades of red and blue had crammed themselves into opposite corners of the room and were staring each other down. The resulting silence was intoxicatingly powerful.

_If anything goes wrong this room is going to wind up in fucking chaos. . _

As an anguished cry suddenly sounded in the next room every single ninja in the room spun around and faced towards the doorway. Then Zed walked out of the room holding something in his hands and staring straight at Akali. Wordlessly he threw it at Shen's feet and Akali found her gaze drawn towards it as if by magnets.

It was a head.

For the first time in her life Akali saw red and suddenly found herself charging towards Zed, completely unable to stop and absolutely wanting to tear his throat out. .

Zed's mask tilted towards her and in that instant it almost seemed like he was taunting er to attack him.

"_**KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!"**_

As she grabbed her kama and was ready to cut his throat out Zed vanished and without even stopping to think, she plunged straight into the shadows after him.

Emerging from the shadows she was shocked to find Zed simply looking at her form a few metres awayl

"_You killed Shen's father! And for that…I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"_

"_**If you insist….Behold the mark of death!"**_

Without any warning Zed suddenly appeared behind her and suddenly two pairs of razor sharp blades were travelling directly towards her. Ducking she leapt at him, only to find herself charging straight through him and sliding to a halt as a shuriken pierced her arm.

Staring him down she was suddenly surprised when another real gauntlet slammed into her side, as Zed suddenly reappeared behind her, followed by an explosion that left her barely on her knees.

"_**You honestly thought you could beat the master assassin?! Now behold as I finish my training and become a true warrior of shadow!"**_

Akali was pretty much only conscious at this point due to raw desire to see Zed in pain.

"Don't count on it."

Desperately, she threw a Kama at Zed, which somehow landed. Then she leapt at Zed hoping to survive using pure willpower only for Zed to simply grip her by the throat.

Struggling, she tore herself out of his grasp and grunted as she landed heavily on _something. _

She looked at what she had landed on in slight amusement.

_The box. And I think I might have broken it somehow. That's ironic. _

Zed simply stated at her in astonishment before grabbing her by the neck again.

"_**What have YOU DONE?!"**_

Looking around at the wreckage of the box Akali realised she couldn't see anything the box actually contained, other than presumably some sort of smoke pellet. A thick cloud of black smoke had emerged from the box and only seemed to be getting larger and more irritating by the second.

"There's nothing here fuckhead. All you effort, all your desires for the box and there's nothing in it but smoke!"

"_**How dare you speak like that! I am better than you'll ever be and I will not tolerate this!"**_

The smoke that was in the box seemed to be turning the whole surroundings completely black at this point, leaving Akali to wonder if Zed could see it too.

_Finding it harder to think….All I can think about is Irelia…_

Sensing someone else sprinting towards her she tried desperately to bring herself out of her stupor in time, before Shen suddenly ran out of nowhere and knocked Zed to the ground.

"Akali, evacuate now!"

As soon as Shen gave her the order and started sprinting towards the cliffsAkali's energy band focus somehow skyrocketed. Nearing the cliffs Akali couldn't see any of the Kinkou or the order which had to be either a good or a terrible sign.

"How many boats are left?"

"There aren't any! Just jump!"

_Jump!? Just jump!?_

Turning around Akali saw another ten shadow ninjas sprinting towards them.

"We need to engage!"

"The islands lost! I'll meet you at the Placidium!"

_Oh you have got to be joking..._

As she looked towards the edge of the cliff a strange form of adrenaline gripped her. Without even bothering to consider the height of the cliff and putting blind faith in Shen's orders she pushed herself as far off the cliff as she possibly could….

And then there was nothing but air.

* * *

"Master. Is something wrong…."

"_**The box. It was supposed to all be mine!"**_

"The Kinkou escaped and took the boats with them. We have no way off the island."

"_**IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ALL MINE!"**_

"Master?"

"…_**Well build more boats then, IDIOT!"**_

"…"

"_**So we have succeeded?"**_

"Yes."

"_**Apologies. I'm finding it hard to think clearly, presumably due to some after effects."**_

"Of the container?"

"_**Indeed**_

_**When he boats are finished, I will travel to Ionia and find the Fist of Shadow.**_

_**I have to find how much she took me and take it back.**_

_**By any means necessary. **_


	11. Foxfire

_Need…air…can't breathe…._

Collapsing onto the beach, Akali lay on her back for what felt like an eternity attempting to get some air into her lungs.

_Ok…..need to….figure out what to do…._

Looking around she found herself in an area as indistinguishable as the void, with a forest to her right and the ocean to her left.

_Right…if I'm going to find Shen I need to go to the Placidium which is definitely in that direction, so…._

_Shen!_

Staggering back to the shoreline, she anxiously looked out back towards the ocean.

"Shen! Are you out there? Shen!".

Running up and down the shoreline, her hopes becoming dashed with each passing wave she eventually managed to stop herself from panicking.

_Ok….Shen's a stronger swimmer than me, so he'll have made it to land faster…_

_But he's heavier so….._

_He's further away from the Placidium than I am. _

_I'm alone. _

_I just swam a marathon, and I'm freezing, completely soaked through, and alone. I need to find shelter fast. _

Determined to find Shen and Kennen as quickly as possible, despite everything, Akali set off away from the shoreline, heading in the vague direction of the Placidium.

* * *

As the enormous crowd around her became captivated by Irelia's speech, Soraka could do nothing but stare nervously in her general direction.

"Today, we stand tall! Today, we fight to keep the Noxian scum off the city walls! And if we believe, then and only then, will the Placidium _STAND TALL_!"

_Will she succeed? Will I succeed? How many people will die?. _

Watching the crowd of people dissipate, she remembered her duties as chief healer, and pushed the distracting thoughts and fears aside as she spotted Irelia re-entering the military headquarters. Completely indistinguishable from any other member of the crowd to avoid attention, she quickly followed her inside.

_Sometimes it's better not to think about the future._

* * *

As a gust of wind swept through the forest and sent it into motion Akali leapt to her feet, only for the trials from the day before to immediately take their toll.

_Who's there?_

Despite every muscle in her body beginning to ache, only after several minutes of complete silence did Akali lower her guard and begin to collect her loose items of clothing from on top of the pile of leaves where she had been sleeping.

_Still wet?_

_How long have I been asleep?_

Looking up at the sky she realised that as well as failing to dry her clothes properly, she had also managed to sleep nearly into the afternoon.

_You have got to be kidding me._

_This sort of luck could get me killed in Ionia of all places. _

_And I must be only around 3 hours away from the Placidium no less. _

Stubbornly keeping herself from getting excited she kept walking through the deep forest, only to walk directly into one of the most bizarre things she had ever seen.

It stared at her. She stared back and then coming to the conclusion that it had to be magical, drew her weapon.

Then, from about 10 feet away, it kissed her.

And her mind went completely blank.

* * *

As Irelia watched intently and waited in reserve, heavily injured Ionian soldiers were slowly brought in from fighting on the front lines.

_Udyr hasn't returned._

_And we're next._

As Master Yi approached her she found herself smiling weakly.

"Are you afraid?"

"Never fought an undead before…."

"The starchild has our backs_. _Remember that."

As the noise on the battlefield went quiet Yi looked at her for confirmation and she nodded in response.

_Alright then. Let's do this._

"CHAAARGE!"

Sprinting into the battlefield she saw soldiers around her begin to drop like flies, and without hesitation began hto fight herself, rapidly becoming surrounded by Noxian corpses. Sensing someone behind her she spun around and embedded her blade deep within the mans chest.

Then the Noxian soldier stepped backwards, suddenly pulling her weapon out of her grip, and she realised her mistake.

The soldier was already dead.

Watching in shock as the soldier pulled her weapon out of his chest she gripped her other blade even tighter in desperation. Then the soldier growled at her and she had to stop her heart from leaping out of her chest.

As the soldier began to charge towards her, she stood her ground out of pure stubbornness rather than intelligence. There was a clash as their weapons collided with each other before she reacted and slashed again at the soldiers chest. The only response the soldier gave was slashing straight back at her, missing by a matter of inches.

As she again tried to find a weak spot or anything that would disable the creature, she suddenly became aware of screaming coming from directly to her left and began desperately wishing for something to intervene.

_How am I meant to defeat this thing? _

_Soraka's got to be creating something._

_Any minute now…_

The screams were definitely getting louder and closer to her position.

_Come on…please! For Ionia's sake!_

In desperation she swung her blade straight into the creatures weapon arm and caused it to release her weapon, only to find its hands rapidly closing around her throat as it forced her up off the ground.

_Karma….Soraka…I tried._

_I tried…and I'm sorry. _

And then the undead simply disintegrated, leaving Irelia lying on the ground in complete amazement with her weapons lying next to her. Then she realised. _Soraka. _

Propelling herself to her feet, she looked around. The Noxians had managed to bring live soldiers to the front of their lines and Irelia wondered what on earth they were attempting by waiting for the Ionians to regroup. Then she realised the Noxian general looked as confused as she did.

_But that's not going to stop him. _

The general yelled something.

Something roared far louder at exactly the same time, drowning out every other noise.

Then Irelia turned around and saw the reason for all the screaming.

* * *

From the top of the walls of the Placidium, Soraka silently monitored the ensuing chaos on the battlefield, despite having lost the energy to stand.

_It's done. _

_May the stars have mercy on the souls of those undead. _

As Karma vaulted up the stairs behind her she tried again to get to her feet, only for Karma to hoist her upright.

"Soraka!"

"_Yes?"_

"Please tell me you just felt that!"

_"I'm pretty certain I just caused it."_

"That was you?! I thought the Noxians had….What even was that?"

"_I released the souls of every undead on the battlefield at once."_

Then something roared so violently that it forced Soraka off her feet.

"Then what about that one…."

"_But that's…impossible…"_

* * *

Despite the 2 metre tall behemoth in front of her, Irelia felt more confusion than fear.

_What's with that things mouth?_

_Is that a-_

As the titan began to raise its axe above its head Irelia subconsciously began to sprint out the way, just avoiding the tremors of the ground behind her. Turning around and seizing the element of surprise to fight back she quickly charged into battle, only to find her blows deflected by dark magic before they even reached the juggernaut. Backing out as fast as she could she prepared to deflect the creatures imminent strikes….

Only for everything to turn into a blur.

There was a sound like a small boulder flying through the air, and then something impacted her with a loud crack, sending shockwaves across her entire chest and knocking the wind straight out of her.

Then she landed on her back, hard.

And the pain started.

* * *

As Akali came back to her senses the first thing that occurred to her is that she had no idea why she had chosen to fall asleep. The second was that she had no idea where she was, and the third was that there was a fox-lady sitting in front of her.

_How did I get here?_

_I just remember drawing my kamas and then…_

_It has to be her. She dragged me to this grove to do…..something. _

Frustrated and tired of not being able to think straight, she lunged forward at the fox lady, and immediately felt like she had collided with a brick wall. Filled with determination, she tried the different tactic of leaping at her, and found that her entire body was unwilling to move in any direction.

_You have got to be fucking kidding me. _

Now absolutely furious, she swore to herself about a hundred times before being distracted as her stomach rumbled.

_And I'm going to starve. Brilliant. Fucking brilliant. _

As an apple landed in her outstretched hands, she stared, still livid at the fox in front of her.

_What? She takes me prisoner and expects me to eat her fucking apple?_

_Eat the apple. _

Rabidly, Akali found herself eating the apple which somehow tasted sweeter and more flavoursome than literally anything she had eaten in her life. Finishing, she suddenly found herself overcome with revulsion and desperately tried to stop herself staring at the fox to no avail.

_Why did I…She can control my thoughts._

She swore to herself again, to absolutely no reaction from the fox.

_Let me go._

_No. _

_I'm a member of the Kinkou, which in case you don't know is a group of highly trained killers, and I demand you let me go!_

_Nobody knows I exist. _

_You certain about that. Because that's what I said to the last guy who tried kidnapping me. ._

_And besides, you'd just kill me first._

Akali had to admit that was actually very likely.

_Well you're the one who captured me._

_You drew your weapon. _

_So this is a fucking misunderstanding? Look if you let me go, I won't kill you. _

_I don't trust you. You're human. _

And with that the fox stood up and began walking off.

_So what? You're just going to fucking leave me to starve?_

_No, I'm leaving you to see if the magic wears off._

_And if it doesn't? If I starve out here after a couple of days, in the middle of nowhere?_

The fox-lady sighed and rolled her eyes, as if it couldn't get across how little of a shit it actually gave.

_Then at least you'll have lasted longer than the men!_

_Wait, what!?_

Suddenly desperate to get the fox far, far away from her Akali could only watch as the fox stopped dead as if it had come up with an even more sinister plan. Then it turned around and she saw it grinning from ear to ear.

_Actually, speaking of men.…. . _

_Get away from me I'm warnin-_

_Smile!_

And then the blankness overwhelmed Akali once more.

* * *

Through the searing pain, Irelia somehow managed to look down towards her chest, realising in agony that she barely had a chest to look at.

_That…..isn't…good._

Trying to focus on pushing herself upright she found even something that simple completely impossible through the incredible pain, and laid feverishly on the ground for a few more seconds.

_Am I even….alive…._

As the creature re-entered her view, something leapt in from the side and causing it slam its axe into the ground, hurling. Irelia helplessly over onto her stomach and nearly making her lose consciousness. Roaring again, it suddenly staggered to the side and someone began yelling in her direction, although she was too disoriented to grasp who it was. With e pain increasing, dramatically and her senses and mind vanishing into nowhere, she found herself lifting off the ground and soaring rapidly like a bird towards the Placidium, further and further away from the ensuing battle. As the gates loomed in front of her, the screaming became even louder and more high pitched than before, only to be replaced by the sound of one thousand waterfalls. Weakly looking behind her for the cause of the noise, all she could make out was an orange ball of flame. Then there was an explosion and she fell, before hitting the ground and mercifully blacking out.

* * *

As Irelia fell to the enormous Noxian, Soraka began to dash towards the main gates of the Placidium, unwittingly running into a feeble attempt at stopping her. Breaking through with one arm, the realisation that it was Karma holding her back only seemed to give her more strength.

"_Let me go! I have to save her!"_

"Soraka, think about what you're doing!"

"_You're just going to let her die!?"_

As she broke out of Karma's grip, Soraka began to sprint out of the gates and onto the battlefield, only for Karma to cast magic that brought her crashing to the ground.

"_I said, let me go!"_

"I'm not going to let you go out there and die as well!"

"_I'm going out there whether you let me or not!"_

"If I have to shut the gates to stop you, then I will!"

"_Then consider our relationship over!"_

Karma's grip loosened and as Soraka saw her tears, she realised she could do nothing else than wait hopelessly for the gates to close and for Irelia's soul to be released on the battlefield.

"SHUT THE GATES!"

Nothing happened.

Turning around, Soraka saw a green blur racing towards the open gate holding Irelia in its arms, and behind it, an enormous fireball at least 4 metres in width and closing. Her vigor renewed, she sprinted freely towards the gates, trying to figure out who had just saved Irelia's and possibly her life, hardly noticing Karma was sprinting towards the gates too.

"YI! SAE ELSE…"

Just as the warrior was surrounded by a orb of pure green at the gates entrance, the fireball slammed directly into his back, sending him flying off to the side. Irelia fell as if in slow motion from his arms, landing hard on the ground near the undead.r Karma and Soraka both entered into a full sprint in different directions, and Soraka hurdled towards Irelia's apparently lifeless body. Trhe undead swung its axe, that soared directly towards all of them and in that split second, Soraka wanted nothing more than to kill every Noxian she came across for daring to put her in this situation. And then the undead crumbled into nothing, leaving Soraka and Irelia bathed in light.

"Soraka…I'm sorry…I had to make a decision so fast…and…"

Still staring at Irelia's body Soraka was only brought into reality by Karma's now loathsome voice in her ear. Then without even speaking, and too disgusted at Karma to form words, she picked up Irelia and walked directly into the field hospital.


	12. Death

**_I thought I'd advance the plot which I've been sitting on for months. So here you go._**

**_EDIT: OK here it is. :/_**

* * *

As Akali once again became aware of the surrounding woodland and the events that had occurred, primal fury rapidly overwhelmed her mind and she began to swear repeatedly to herself. The fox, sitting down crosslegged on a nearby patch of grass, looked up at her and smiled, before suddenly speaking with a soft growl.

"You_ can speak now."_

Akali chose this opportunity to swear loudly, only to find herself completely unable to do anything but stutter relentlessly.

_"Aaaaawwwww….are you finding it hard to speak? Let me help."_

As the fox placed a hand under Akali's chin and tilted their faces towards each otherAkali felt her blood turn to ice.

_"Do you want me to let you go?"_

As Akali opened her mouth to swear at her again, she immediately responded to the foxes question completely against her will.

"Y-yess!"

_"Then sit there and be respectful. I just want to ask a few questions, that's all."_

_She doesn't know anything about the Kinkou, so what can she possibly ask?_

_"You're attracted to me, aren't you?"_

Akali wasn't sure whether the fact the fox had gathered that, or the fact she could not stop herself stuttering was actually worse.

"N-n-n…"

_"You want me to touch you, you love it when I brush my lips on the back of your neck…."_

As she felt lips touch the back of her neck for even the briefest of moments Akali unintentionally let out a brief gasp.

_"When I charm women they always do anything I say. Becoming aroused however…._

_Well that's what makes you very special. Tell me….why are you aroused?"_

As the ridiculous questions and her body somehow responding to the foxes advances, made her more frightened than torture ever could, she found herself responding with complete honesty.

"How am I supposed to know! And I 'm already in love with someone else! Let me go!"

_"But if I let you go, how am I meant to figure out everything about this arousal, hmmmm? _

_Now why don't you over come show me of your own free will? Nobody will know….."_

The fox threw whatever her excuse for a blouse was straight to the other side of the clearing..

Akali, now with her body entirely under her own control took a tiny step forwards.

A horse whinnied.

Then she remembered why she had been attempting to reach the Placidium. Then, finally being able to use her legs properly,she bolted in the direction of the noise.

* * *

As the curiosity boarded the cart, Ahri watched helplessly, berating herself for allowing it to escape.

_I just wanted one thing! Just one! And she refuses to give it to me!_

_Am I losing my touch?!_

Absentmindedly pulling hair out of one of her tails in her frustration, she suddenly noticed the scent of her curiosity, even as the cart began to become smaller and smaller.

_I'm not done with her yet._

_And if I stay out here by myself I'm going to lose my mind thinking about this._

And with her mind made up in an instant, Ahri began to trail the cart, while hidden well within the shadow of the forest.

* * *

The first thing Irelia noticed, with immense relief, was that the pain had completely stopped.

Then she became aware of her surroundings. Everything around her was pitch black and somehow there was not even the faintest trace of light or sound. Then something roared at her.

**_"Well, what are you waiting for!? Stand up!"_**

Turning around, despite the complete lack of any light she caught the outline of a monsterous suit of armor at least 8 feet tall standing only a few feet behind her. Unable to find anything that resembled a weapon, she began to work herself to her feet, catching glimpses of the outline of her own armor as she stood up. Determined to leave without this behemoth tailing her, she decided to ask an intentionally obvious question.

"Where am I?"

**_"And what sort of infernal question is that supposed to be?!"_**

"Well, I'm sorry for not being able to guess!"

**_"There is no 'where' woman. You're dead! You're nothing but a soul to be taken to the Shadow Isles!"_**

As Irelia, dumbfounded, tried to grasp with what the suit had just said, something flickered directly behind her and began exuding warmth in her direction. Without even turning to see why Irelia made her next decision based entirely on instinct.

_I have to stay here._

"And if I don't follow you to the Isles?"

**_"If you don't? There is no don't! You follow me or I torture you until you do!"_**

Irelia sat down on what she assumed was the 'ground' in this place and which seemed to be becoming silver as the flickering grew in strength. The armor sighed in response.

**_"The one time I fill in for the warden and this happens. You should probably be grateful that this at least is only going to hurt once!"_**

The armor pulled out an enormous mace with one hand.

As Irelia watched her weapon appeared in hers.

_I have absolutely nothing to lose._

So she charged first, slamming the blades into the creature's armor.

It swung its mace a second slower, missed as Irelia ducked out of the way and in response she slammed her blades into it again and swung straight down. The armor just laughed and her entire chest began to feel like someone was rearranging it bit by bit. Not even fazed she charged again. The armor blocked and with one swing of its mace threw her upwards.

Landing, again completely unfazed, Irelia stared as 4 deep red spirit blades materialised into existence, and everything around her slowly became the same shade of deep red until even the armor could no longer be seen or heard.

Confused and having decided that it couldn't be anywhere worse than literal death,, Irelia simply let the crimson red and the surrounding warmth consume her.

* * *

Terrified out of her mind, Soraka rapidly tried once more to distance herself from what was happening in front of her. The mortally wounded Irelia lay in front of her and despite the enormous importance of the captain to the Ionian forces in general, she still felt guilty trying to devote her time to her mortally wounded friend instead of the many injured soldiers still piling in.

Then she began to heal Irelia and everything got far far worse.

_"Aaaaah!"_

As pain threatened to overcome her she backed away from Irelia's body before determining the cause as quickly as she could.

_Ok. They've cursed her. So if I reverse that…._

As she reversed the curse, Irelia's soul very nearly disintegrated before Soraka's eyes. Letting the injury lie where it was Soraka just barely held the soul in place with her magic.

_She's slipping! I can't…!_

_I'm going to hold her! I have to!_

_Her bodies too frail to keep the soul in place but if I heal her I'll lose her soul!_

_I don't have a choice!_

Despite her heart blindly insisting that she hold onto the soul for dear life, Soraka tenuously let go of the soul and with all her strength blasted Irelia's body with healing magic.

The bleeding stopped. The soul, with its tether completely gone, fractured straight down the centre. And without even stopping to think Soraka hurled it straight into the first thing she saw.

Irelia lay completely still.

Soraka, suddenly realising what she had just done, felt her heart leap out of her chest.

And when after a few minutes, Irelia woke up, grabbed her weapons and stormed out the room Soraka found she was unable to lift a finger to stop her.

* * *

As Irelia swept through the battlefield, her blades whirled around her rapidly felling groups of Noxians as they approached her with ease. Even as larger groups approached her this only seemed to indicate how one sided the battle had seemingly become as they too were slain.

And even as Irelia took blow after blow only one thought seemed to occupy her mind.

_More._

Even as another group attacked Irelia let her strikes rejuvenate her as the enemies fell.

_More_.

As she waited in desperation for more Noxians to attack her a silence rapidly fell over the battlefield. In a a blind fury she began sprinting away from the Placidium towards the position of the enemy back lines only to find the last of them in full retreat.

_MORE!_

Her blades flew through the air. More Noxians fell even as the lines retreated and the remainder disappeared out of view. And as the vast emptiness inside of her threatened to rise to the surface she did the only thing she could.

She started searching for slower Noxians to kill.

* * *

With the Placidium spontaneously erupting into celebration, in a futile attempt at easing the guilt on herself Soraka barricaded herself inside her living quarters and slammed herself down onto the bed. Then, lying paralysed with fear, she immediately broke down into tears.

What felt like an eternity seemed to pass as she lay still on the bed, determined to apologise to Irelia and yet unsure of the implications that such an action would create. Then someone knocked on the door.

Petrified of being confronted, Soraka held her breath, lying as silently as she possibly could on her mattress, mentally preparing for the worst. There was another knock. Soraka willed the room to be completely silent so whoever it was would simply leave her in peace.

"Soraka? Are you alright!?"

Why can't Karma just leave me alone for once?!

_"Don't come in! I'm not feeling well!"_

"Do you need someone to help you?!"

_"No! I mean...!"_

Refusing to detract more people away from the celebrations, Soraka opened the door to the room herself, only for Karma to immediately back away as the door opened.

"Soraka?! Are you sure this is a good idea?!"

_"What do you mean? It's not infectious, it's just…."_

Soraka paused, unsure of how to drag herself out of the situation without getting nervous and giving the whole thing away. Then Karma did it for her.

"Well it's just Irelia appears to be in the same situation and I thought that…!"

So determined was Soraka to apologise, that she didn't even wait for Karma to finish talking before she went to find Irelia to clear her name.

Every time a celebratory firework exploded in the might sky outside, Irelia knew she should have felt pride growing inside her. Instead, she was slamming her fist into the wall. Repeatedly.

In the distance another firework sounded and slamming her fist into the wall, she revelled in the feeling of pain that it brought before the silence brought her crashing back down again. Unable to feel even the slightest shred of emotion, in the silence after the firework Irelia stared blankly at her surroundings until suddenly the door slammed open. Turning around she saw Soraka standing there with a look of shock on her face and let her vengeful thoughts slowly rise to the surface,. Then Soraka started to speak.

"Irelia….I'm….. "

Irelia watched her move closer with intense interest, not even caring what actions her mind would come up with.

"I'm sorry."

In response Irelia grabbed her by the throat.

"You came here to apologise!? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Letting go of Soraka, entirely for dramatic effect, she watched as the Starchild hit the ground.

"I didn't mean to….it just…!"

"Oh, you didn't intend to….I'M NOT EVEN HUMAN ANYMORE! I'm just this…THIS THING!"

"I placed your soul inside your weapon so it wouldn't disintegrate."

"Shut the fuck up!"

And no matter what it appears to be like, you still have a soul. You're still human."

"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"And I want to repay my debt to you for this tragedy."

"If _you_ expect me, to _ever_ talk to you again, then you can just go the fuck away _AND NEVER COME BACK!"_

Soraka didn't move.

Irelia, now too hoarse to yell and consumed with murderous thoughts, left the room instead and walked straight down to the tavern, leaving Soraka in her wake.

* * *

In the dead centre of the Shuriman desert, a mysterious figure walked amongst the sand looking for, as always, his compatriots. They were either late or far more likely, he was early. Then something slammed into a dune several yards away. This repeated itself until eventually once again they were united, although apparently some of them were rather livid.

**_"She's not dead!"_**

That got his attention. Being blunt was a trademark of all of them, but also incredibly useful and time saving.

**_"What do you mean, she's not dead! How can she still be alive?!"_**

**_ "Something must have saved her from the afterlife. Something strong, that we could not have foreseen."_**

Another voice, finally from someone more senior than himself.

**_"THE STARS ALLOW US TO FORESEE EVERYTHING!"_**

**_"It's not over yet. We just need to…end her ourselves."_**

**_"Noxus has already been forced back. The war is in an unwinnable position and they are not going to continue fighting."_**

**_"Then we just need to find somewhere else then. Everything else has worked, I see no reason for our plan to fail now we are so close to success. Amrer!"_**

His associate, finally, was listening to reason.

**_"Yes Master!"_**

**_"Go to the Shadow Isles. Stir things up. And this time I expect results!"_**


	13. Passion (NSFW)

**_When life gives you lemons, make your own shittier version. _**

* * *

Despite everything, the only thing left separating Akali from the inside of the Placidium was, unfortunately, the enormous outer gate. And with human corpses decaying around her, waiting until morning for the gates to open was definitely not an option. Naively attempting to simply open the gates she found them barricaded from the other side.

_How have I not been killed on sight already?_

_Maybe they don't think there are any threats outside to kill._

_And that's probably a good thing. _

Taking a running leap, she easily found her intended footholds and launched herself up the wall, despite the complete lack of light to guide her movements. Grasping the top of the wall she propelled herself over, with no sign of anyone having noticed. Not that anyone appeared to be on the walls to notice. Instead, everyone seemed to be watching a distinctly Ionian parade down the centre of the street.

_That is a very good sign. _

Remembering the goals of what she had taken to calling her "mission", Akali knew that attempting to find Shen in these conditions would be useless with just "somewhere in the Placidium" to work by. And finding a tavern to rest in immediately after a conflict had just occurred would be suspicious beyond belief.

_Unless….._

That was an idea. She was going to fall asleep wherever she stood, once the immense excitement of entering the Placidium wore off. And how uncomfortable could the stables possibly be?

* * *

As she looked in awe at the massive graveyard around her Soraka was dimly aware that she was supposed to be sleeping. She had left Irelia's quarters, somehow made it to her own, felt her body go numb after hours of writhing around uncomfortably and then….

But if she was sleeping, how could she be here?

Where exactly was here?

Even as she tried to determine her whereabouts an enormous gust of wind swept in and sent shivers throughout her entire body. Realising she had to be dreaming she shut her eyes once more, only for them to fly open as something unnatural wailed in the distance. Somehow a building had materialised in front of her, at least the size of a small house. Fully aware this was a dream at this point but completely unable to close her eyes or control her movements, Soraka moved towards it regardless.

She was standing, staring at the black stone wall helplessly for only a few seconds before the paranoia started. .

_Please don't let Irelia be behind me.._

_Please don't let Irelia be behind me…_

There was complete silence and in that brief instance Soraka relaxed.

Then a disembodied version of Irelia burst screaming through the stone wall with a horde of demons in her wake.

"I DIDN'T DESERVE THI-"

Waking up covered with sweat, Soraka gave up on sleeping entirely and went to see the cause of the noise outside. The entire pavilion outside was bathed in light and filled with lines of lines of people who appeared to be eagerly awaiting something, although she wasn't sure how an event could possibly have been planned over the space of a couple of hours. As she finished travelling through the crowd, a conversation so raucous that she could actually make sense of it broke out and immediately got her attention.

"So where the hell is the Captain of the Guard then?"

"I'm pretty saw her drinking heavily just down the road from here."

"Drinking? Just before the parade for the war heroes?"

"Maybe it was somebody else then….."

"Guess we'll see when she shows up!"

Desperate to ease her guilty conscience and to stop what appeared to be a leadup to a massive disaster, Soraka quickly vanished from the square.

* * *

Eventually finding a way through the crowd that stood nearly shoulder to shoulder along the street, Soraka entered the tavern, which was confusingly enough practically empty, with as much authority as she could possibly manage. The only people still inside were a man in full Ionian military uniform, who appeared to be completely sober, and Irelia, who was surrounded by multiple empty beer mugs and obviously was not.

Removing her hood, she was just about to ask the soldier if there was a problem when she realised she had no good reason to even be there in the first place.

"Mistress Soraka. Did someone send for you?"

_Someone? Why would they…_

Her mind working overtime to fill in the gaps Soraka decided to simply say what needed to be said and hoped that it would work.

"_I'm here to inform you that Irelia is unwell and unable to perform in the parade under any circumstances_."

The soldier looked at her suspiciously and realising her and Irelia were too far in to back out now, she strengthened her resolve tenfold.

"And you are absolutely certain?"

"_Absolutely. _Tell_ the officials I have demanded it right away."_

"Yes ma'am."

As the soldier left, Soraka found herself trying to get Irelia well out of sight before people got curious, or the drunk Irelia made a complete fool out of herself. Unfortunately even as she tried not to provoke her or even look directly at her, she found Irelia's short term memory was still working.

"_Irelia I'm just going to get up you somewhere you can rest, ok?"_

"Go…go away…"

As Soraka ran up from behind, Irelia stood up, staggered off the bench for several feet and nearly toppled over, not to Soraka's amusement as she ran along behind her.

"_Just let me help you…,"_

"I don't want to be in your fucking parade! Just leave me be!"

Struggling to hold Irelia upright and prevent her from breaking free as they walked back the way they had came, the parade chose just that moment to arrive, distracting the crowd and allowing Soraka to escape with Irelia unseen through the back streets with Irelia seeming to focus on staying as upright as possible. Then as they entered Soraka's quarters once more, Irelia attempted feebly to escape.

"Where…I want more! More beer!"

"_No more drinking, tonight alright? You can hardly keep your balance."_

"You're not my father! Leave me alone!"

In a burst of energy Irelia struggled forwards only to fall over immediately after she left Soraka's grip. Just barely managing to catch her at full stretch, Soraka found Irelia had become completely limp.

_She must have passed out just then. _

_...I guess I'll put her in my bed._

Only after carefully placing Irelia in her own bed did it then occur to Soraka that there was absolutely nowhere for her to get to sleep.

* * *

With the scent of her prey having long vanished and the sun just barely beginning to rise, Ahri slipped over the walls and into the unfamiliar city before her. Her prey was here, she was absolutely sure of it. The massive search for them however, could wait until she explored the city surrounding her. And the first thing she felt like finding in the massive city was somewhere quiet and comfortable to rest for a few hours. Which was proving to be slightly more difficult than she thought, even with a dead soldiers memories providing the basics.

_Humans live in….houses._

_I don't have a house. _

_So that means…_

Unable to come up with an answer, she shook her head angrily. There had to be somewhere humans could sleep, she just hadn't figured it out yet. Unfortunately this didm't leave her with a lot of options. Eyeing the lack of privacy and _filthiness _of the streets with disgust, she stubbornly kept walking.

_There are animals that have better standards than this. _

_How on earth do any of the horses rest in this mess?_

Raising her head to the air she sniffed once more and noticed the faint but familiar smell of at least half a dozen horses, all in the one place and not very far away.

_Perfect. _

Although the stable had a smell that was beyond unpleasant and seemed to be filled with the loudest breed of horses imaginable, sleep had once again come easily to Akali,at least for shorter periods, and by the third time she awoke the sun had just begun to peek over the horizon. Vaguely interested, but not interested enough to prevent it from interrupting her sleep, she shut her eyes and rolled over, suddenly feeling something brush her face. Assuming it was a tail she blindly swatted it out of the way, only to brush against another 3 or 4 tails in her attempt.

"_Surprise!"_

Akali was so tired she had absolutely no way to react on time.

* * *

With Akali staring blankly at her from the pile of hay where she had been sleeping, Ahri was too stunned to think and too elated to even think about sleeping. Realising she controlled her prey yet again, with trembling fingers she issued a command.

"Stand up."

Her prey immediately stood up shakily, clearly not fully awake and Ahri had to resist –tearing their clothes off right there in the stables. However the temptation to enjoy herself was proving to be a little too much for her to handle.

"Now…what's your name then, _georgeous_?"

"A-Akali.."

"I like that name…"

As a reward for having such a pleasing name, Ahri buried her face into Akali's cheek, and heard Akali sigh in response.

_I'm going to remember this for a long time._

"Now, _Akali_…why don't you show me somewhere we can mate that a little more private?"

Considering it was dawn the tavern itself was absurdly full of people, all of whom were completely asleep. Not that Ahri cared, with the urge to mate so strong and all she had to do was wait a little longer. And then as Akali opened and closed the door behind them, the moment had finally arrived. Guiding Akali with her hands she sat her down on the bed next to her and smiled eagerly as Akali sat there motionless, barely able to comprehend what was happening in front of her.

"I've never done this before…_why don't you show me what it's like?"_

And then without even taking her clothes off or doing anything that Ahri had come to expect, Akali threw her arms around her neck and kissed her. Hard.

Ahri didn't even think about resisting when something entered her mouth and started exploring eagerly, and upon realising it was a tongue fought back with her own, struggling to maintain dominance from her position underneath Akali. Ending her assault completely breathless she once again tried to force her way out from underneath Akali, underestimating her brute strength as she was kept pinned underneath.

Then Akali gently kissed her neck and she decided she could stay underneath, at least for a little longer.

"That's mo_re like it…_

As the single kiss turned into a seemingly neverending series of kisses, Ahri clenched her jaw and arched her neck forward, aching for Akali to continue. And Akali did not disappoint, kissing every inch of her exposed neck, with Ahri showing her pleasure by moaning loudly and passionately at every single one. As Akali reached the top of Ahri's blouse she slowly began to reverse direction, kissing back up Ahri's neck and as Ahri's moans turned to whimpers, she kissed her on the lips again before nuzzling her face into Ahri's cheek.

Slightly disappointed, but very much aroused and determined to finish what Akali had started, Ahri decided it was time to put her experience to good use.

"Oh I'm not done with you just yet…"

Letting her hands drift down Akali's back and across her sides, Ahri began to tease by running one hand along and under the one sole strap that held up Akali's clothing. With the other hand already underneath the thin piece of fabric that doubled as protection and Akali wordlessly enjoying the whole spectacle, the strap holding the fabric over her body was finally undone, allowing Ahri to view the two amazing spectacles in front of the her.

"They're beautiful…"

Unsure what to do, Ahri then gently touched one on the very peak and as her confidence soared spoke with a lust filled voice.

"_Can I taste them_….?"

* * *

With both Akali and her now completely naked and getting more intrigued by the minute, Ahri decided it would at least be courteous to let Akali push her down firmly onto the bed, and watched as Akali moved her head closer and closer towards Ahri's exposed breasts. Then Akali placed her tongue over the nipple and Ahri realised just how sensitive it was, losing herself in the sensation as it moved over and over and around….

As more sensations joined the first Ahri felt Akali place her body on top of hers, with her head still sucking at Ahri's nipples, her breasts resting firmly on Ahri's stomach and her hands…

Her hands were inching up the inside of Ahri's legs as slowly as they possibly could.

Only when they reached the very top, after what felt like forever did Ahri find the energy to blurt out.

"Akali…I….I…"

A pair of striking blue eyes stared back at her as the sensations slowly stopped

"I want to watch…"

Slowly, Ahri pushed herself as far up onto the bed head as she could manage as Akali sat up and gently pushed her legs apart. Then, as she forced herself to look, Akali curled up her fingers and without even teasing pushed them in.

The sensation was so intense, and Ahri was so aroused, that she clamped her eyes tightly shut.

_Her fingers…_

_Her hand is…Ahh!_

With the lustful thoughts putting her body on a incredibly short fuse, as she began to tremble she forced herself to open her eyes, whimpering pitifully as Akali removed her hand and gripped one of Ahri's legs with each arm as Ahri looked at her in puzzlement. In response, Akali stuck her tongue out,and Ahri shut her eyes tight.

_She has to be joking…_

_She has to be…_

_She has to…_

As Akali continued to hold her tight, Ahri felt the sensation begin again and with her mind beginning to buckle it increased to an even greater intensity, until all she could do was breathe in and out to the rhythm of Akali's fingers and tongue. And as she lay there helplessly the sensations continued over and over and over endlessly until she realised that she couldn't hold back anymore but held on anyway to show that at least she was trying….

_I going to hold it…_

_Just for a little longer…._

_Just let me resist…_

_Her…_

_Her..._

_Her…._

And then, as she realised once more what Akali was doing, how she was creating this feeling inside her, she instantly lost control.

"_A-Akalii!"_

With the job done, Akali stopped, looked at Ahri, and slyly smiled at her. And all Ahri could do was breathlessly stare back at her with a half formed image of something in her mind. Then, amazingly, she finally found the energy to speak.

"Do you want me to…to do that to you?"

* * *

Once Akali was obediently standing in the position which she desired, Ahri slowly removed her gaze from directly between Akali's legs, quietly amused to see her blushing and enjoying her newfound power enormously. As slowly as possible, she placed her tongue gently above one of Akali's legs before following with a kiss,

"_Is this where you want it?"_

"N-no…"

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you…."

"Between…between my legs!"

As Ahri bought her mouth up and placed it gently on Akali's chest she saw Akali blush even redder than last time.

"Is this it…?"

"L-lower!"

_If I can hold it in, so can she. _

Not even pretending to be innocent now, Ahri stuck her tongue out as little as possible and she could feel Akali tremble as it finally reached between her legs.

"Ith thith it?"

"More! Further!"

With her tails arching around Akali's legs, Ahri then pushed her fingers inside as far as they could, and as her tongue joined them she could feel Akali's legs slowly buckling besides her.

Completely fixated, and with one hand that between her own legs to doing what Akali had done moments before, only when Akali's hand left her mouth to grip Ahri's hair did Ahri realise how loud and desperate the moans had become.

"Ahri…I'm…I'm…."

"You're…."

"I'm….Aaaah!"

With Akali focusing entirely focused on breathing Ahri nuzzled her face into Akali's neck, her curiousity satisfied and two damp hands to show for it. Then, determined to tease Akali one last time she whispered in her ear.

"You were saying…"

And in one swift motion Akali grabbed her, forced her tongue into her mouth as far as it would go, and then toppled backwards onto the bed bringing the helpless Ahri along for the ride for one final, passionate embrace.


	14. Foolproof Plans

**_I've kind of lost interest in this story, because lets be honest here it's got a pretty terrible excuse for a plot. I do want to try and get some major details down before I stop writing it though._**

**_Also having said that I would also like to thank everyone who's managed to read this far. _**

**_You have my enormous gratitude._**

**_-BBO_**

* * *

Bureaucracy.

The entirety of the Shadow Isles seemed to be fuelled by it, and every infuriating second where Mordekaiser had to deal with it only served to fill him with disgust.

"**Where are my useless **_**fucking **_**soldiers?!" **

Even though a quick search would have given him the answer to the question, Mordekaiser was not in the mood to solve problems.

"**KALISTA!"**

Somewhere nearby there was a sound of glass shattering, which had happened far too often to be a problem. Kalista not showing up however….

"**KALISTA!"**

"_You called…?"_

30 seconds late. She was slacking. And that was punishable.

"**Why in _damnation_**__**did you take so long?!"**

"_My business is my own. "_

"_**Imbecile. **_**Where are my soldiers!? Why aren't they training!?"**

"_They trained, as much as I deemed necessary. Then they ceased."_

"**They** _**CEASED TRAINING!? IDIOT! They could be invading foreign soil right now if not for your laziness and habdashery!" **_

"_Yes, send them over so we can lose them. If I didn't know better I'd swear that…"_

Amusingly Kalista was interrupted by a shockwave that left Mordekaiser the only one standing out of the two.

_**Hue. **_

_**Wait what!?**_

Something had fallen out of the sky nearly directly on top of the forge. And the forge was next to the armoury. And that was too unusual to be pure luck.

"_**Find your feet imbecile! We have to get to the armoury!"**_

* * *

Irelia wasn't sure to be amazed or completely mortified at the headache she was suffering from. For one thing, it seemed to be the only injury she had obtained from fighting Noxians the day before. On the other hand, if it was hurting as much as it did...she should probably talk to someone about it when she got out of the house. Although only when getting up didn't make it worse. What felt like a couple of hours passed, before she slowly began to sense the smell of something cooking from downstairs. Of course knowing that nobody else would be in the house at this time in the morning, Irelia dismissed it as a weird sort of hallucination. Then a cupboard door slammed. Someone else was definitely in the house. And Irelia was certainly not going to let someone run wild around her house without at least telling them to stop making a racket first. Assuming that she could walk over to the kitchen, at least.

One step.

_Staggering isn't as hard as I thought. _

Ten steps. Someone was definitely cooking down the hallway.

Twenty steps. Someone had gone out of their way to shut the massive doors to the kitchen.

Twenty-five steps. Irelia was completely confident she would die or stop hallucinating as soon as she attempted to open the doors, but she pushed them open anyway.

Nothing happened. Soraka, looked up from the small fire roaring in the centre of the kitchen, looking rather foolish in an apron that wasn't even close to fitting her,

"_Good morning Irelia."_

"Are…Did someone tell you I was unwell?"

The expression on Soraka's face changed so briefly if Irelia hadn't already been staring, she never would have noticed it.

"_Are you unwell?!"_

There was something unusual about the conversation but Irelia couldn't quite grasp exactly what it was. Soraka seemed to be either overly concerned, or attempting to apologise for something, or both.

Of course it was clearly going to be the first option but still…

"It's just a headache, that's all. Would this have anything to do with you _being in my house_ at 10 in the morning?"

"_Can…can you remember what happened last night?"_

"I…."

Casting her mind back, Irelia couldn't actually think of a single thing that had happened since being out on the battlefield, despite remembering every single thing beforehand.

_Am I slowly losing my mind?_

_There has to be a normal explanation….._

She remembered everything except for that gap in her memory.

Soraka was at her house making sausages and eggs.

It had to be serious or…

"Soraka…was I drinking a lot last night?"

"_You...might have had a little too much to drink last night."_

As she felt something violently force it's way up her throat Irelia instantly agreed.

"I'll be right back!"

* * *

If there was anyone sleeping in the same bed that she had been up until ten seconds ago, Akali was about to snap their neck like a twig.

_I have absolutely no idea how I got here. _

That was enough of a reason for her to slam her arm down across where the other occupant of the bed was.

Or should have been.

Completely awake after her assault failed, Akali triple checked checked the entirety of the small room around her, only to find it completely empty. Then instantly throwing the sheets off she blushed a deep shade of crimson.

Complete nudity on her part….was not what she had been expecting.

_Wha-_

_How-_

_Shit!_

_Shitshitshitshit!_

As threateningly as she could while terrified and completely unarmored, she quickly surveyed the room for her clothes before ransacking through the sheets underneath her.

No result.

_What the fuck happened to me?!_

Collapsing onto the bed and about to give up all hope she suddenly noticed one of her boots next to the bed half hidden under the sheet and diverolling straight off the bed to retrieve it, she pulled the sheets to one side.

Her dress was there. Her other boot was there. The only thing she couldn't find was her mask.

And Akali was not about to let something that trivial from finding out who did this to her.

_I'm going to finding the person or the people who did this. And when I do, I'm going to o teach them a lesson. _

_A fatal lesson._

* * *

Mordekaiser had to admit that whatever had crashed into his castle certainly had a lot of courage. That and the guards were all completely inept at the best of times, but winning while outnumbered 30-1? That took skill. It was a shame that out of all the places to land it had chosen the armory and that alone meant he needed to make a particularly brutal example. If he could just catch up to it…

_**Oh look, they've vanished here as well. One more hallway and he'll have cleared the entire armory.**_

_**And here it is. Empty. **_

_**I need better guards. **_

Unless this creature was completely insane it had gone too deep into the armory to even hope to make it out. Reinforcements were approaching, Mordekaiser was between the creature and the only way out, and there was no way for it to access the only weapon this far down.

Speaking of which…

"_**I wouldn't try that if I were you. Unless you don't value your life very highly."**_

The good thing about being undead was that sometimes security became hilariously easy. And being able to control undead made it surprisingly efficient as well.

"_**An undead barrier. Is this the height of Shadow Isles magic?"**_

"_**It's worked fool. Now surrender your life to me!"**_

Then the creature swung its sword and shattered the barrier completely.

_**How the….?**_

If it wasn't for desperation, Mordekaiser would never have been able to land magic from where he was standing, which seemed to have encouraged the creature to take a swing at him at the very least. There was a clang of something hitting metal, which sent Mordekaiser screeching backwards and left the creature seemingly uninsured.

"_**Children of the-"**_

The wall behind the creature collapsed and spears went flying into its midriff, which would have been acceptable had the creature not already grabbed the Blade of the Ruined King from the pedestal.

Mordekaiser roared. Kalista pulled what must have been 15 spears out of creature at once. .

Then, despite clearly being injured, the creature took off again, taking the most potent weapon from the Shadow Isles with it.

* * *

With Irelia vanishing into the house as soon as Soraka had gathered the audacity to mention the events from last night, there was little more that she could do than sit and wait quietly for her to return, while trying to suppress the thought that Irelia could already be miles away.

_How long has it been since she disappeared?_

_A quarter of an hour?_

_Is that enough time for her to never have to see me again?_

_No. She's not abandoning me. She'd be a lot more straightforward than this._

_I think…._

"_Irelia…?"_

Unable to sit around with even the tiniest prospect of Irelia fleeing, and not yet ready to leave, Soraka was just about to search the house herself when Irelia poked her head into the room.

"I'm…I'm not feeling very well…"

"_Have you got a headache? Muscle pains? Shortness of breath?. Muscle pains?"_

"Soraka."

"_Are you sure you don't need to lie down?_"

"It's a hangover. I'm sure that…"

"_I'm just going to check for any lingering injuries!"_

With every attempt to latch onto Irelia missing Soraka didn't notice until too late Irelia was going red in the face.

"Soraka, I'm fine..just...just go AWAY!

Unsure of what had just happened, Soraka recoiled from Irelia so quickly she nearly fell over.

"Just..Soraka…if you could leave me alone for a few seconds.."

"_I'm a healer. I'm trying to help!"_

"Well I don't need help! It's just I've got a hangover and…you've never treated a hangover have you?"

Irelia let out a deep sigh, which Soraka was absolutely certain meant she was going to get forced out of the house.

"Go find me some bananas will you? For the hangover."

"_How do bananas…_"

"Just go before I have to kick you out. "

* * *

Killing people was simple for Akali. Interrogation however, was likely to be far more useful. As long as she sounded convincing...

The rest had already come naturally.

"Where _are we_?"

The speed at which Akali had forced the man to the ground seemed to indicate that he had no idea what was happening. And that meant the chances of tracking down her kidnapper were getting smaller by the minute.

"You…You're in the Bannered Mare! A tavern! In the. Placidium!"

The trick was to get as close to killing them as you possibly could…

"You're _LYING!"_

"No! Please! I'm telling the truth!"

"_Who brought _me_here?!_?!"

"I-I don't know!"

"What do you mean, _you don't know?!"_

"I was aslee-_Argh_!"

"_Stop_ _lying_ _to me_!"

"Alright! You win!"

_Now we're getting somewhere. _

"There was a-an actress! Dressed a-as a kumiho!"

"Dressed as a _what_?"

"She left this morning! She was the only person I saw leave! I-I'm telling the truth I swear!"

_There's no way that's a lie. It's too absurd. _

…

_I need serious help._

"If you tell anyone, _anyone _about this, I'll kill you in your sleep.

No answer other than a few shallow breaths.

"_Understood_?"

Not that she needed an answer anyway.

"A-Are you going to pay for the room?"

Despite her training, Akali found that choking the innkeeper into unconsciousness actually seemed to have lifted her mood slightly, even though she had no idea what she was going to do. On paper, finding Shen and Kennen seemed simple. In truth however...

_What would Shen do in this situation?_

_He'd be discreet, but he'd have to tell someone. But who?_

The answer was so obvious she was amazed she had to think of it.

_Anyone. _

_He'd tell anyone he knew could help if it meant he could continue the path of the Kinkou. _

_And I should be doing the same. _

_But how to find someone important..._

Then someone with skin the same colour as the sky walked right past her and an idea clicked into place.

* * *

_This plan is practically foolproof._

Kalista glaring at him was not something that Mordekaiser appreciated, but he could hardly be bothered telling her to flee back to whatever hole that she had come from. There were far important matters at hand.

"_And how did he get the Blade of the Ruined King exactly?!"_

"_**He broke the barrier of course!"**_

"_He BROKE the barrier."_

"_**Have your senses left you, revenant?**_

"_The undead barrier which you created to guard the most important weapon in the entire arsenal and he BROKE it."_

"_**Kalista I'm not entirely sure if you have lost all your senses or are just no paying attention but either way you are continuing to be a MASSIVE WASTE OF MY TIME!"**_

"_I'm not ignoring you I'm just pointing out that you attempting to use the Blade for your own benefit like a treacherous worm wouldn't surprise me in the last!"_

"_**You. Are accusing me. Of smuggling the Blade away from where I need it, and somewhere else where I don't for a nonexistent scheme which I DON'T NEED!"**_

Fortunately for both of them, Kalista steered into Mordekaiser's hands by abruptly changing the topic.

"_Then where exactly are you going?"_

"_**Ionia."**_

"_And why would that be?"_

"_**Because of a remarkable coincidence that occurred a few days ago."**_

"_And can you tell me about this coincidence?"_

"_**No."**_

"_Mordekaiser as a warrior I respect you immensely but if you are to continue, based on this mysterious coincidence, I will have to hunt you down for treason."_

"_**Are you threatening me?"**_

"_Yes."_

"_**Because I may not be the smartest Lich in the Shadow Isles, but these coincidences that I have spotted, which I don't have to mention to you, go together like my mace and a mortals dead body! So if you even try anything before I return in the next 4 days, I will hunt YOU down, line my mace up with your head and FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF!"**_

Silence. Kalista didn't seem to be even remotely intimidated, but he hadn't been expecting her to be.

"_You have 72 hours before I report you for high treason."_

"_**Fuck off."**_

Kalista, no doubt satisfied that Mordekaiser hadn't murdered her on the spot walked off, leaving Mordekaiser to think to himself about his plan. Not that it needed changing in the slightest, because it was of course, his idea.

_**All I have to do is draw the demon out by killing the woman who escaped me earlier, and I've even convinced that idiot undertaker to help!**_

_**This plan is practically foolproof!**_


End file.
